Kaden and The Great War
by ZacBuzzsaw
Summary: Follow a teenage Kaden as he graduates from the Lombax Praetorian Academy and becomes one of the most prestigious beings in the Omniverse...Then has everything taken away. Rated T for violence, suggestive themes, occasional strong language, moderate mild language, and drug and alcohol references.
1. Ch 1- Hot Pursuit

"If injury is to be done to a man, it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared."

-Machiavelli

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><p><strong>Cha<strong>**pter 1**

**Hot Pursuit**

Location: Fastoon. Time: 0600 hours. A solitary figure was standing in the cockpit of a 50-foot mobile crane in the middle of a junkyard, Plasma Striker in hand. The figure crouched, looking across the horizon. The city was so peaceful at sunset. The lights glowed, outlining the buildings in colors of red, blue, and everything else those architects and fashion designers could come up with. The figure was perfectly content with a hooded jacket, a pair of pants, and a bandana- his exact clothing for this operation. He raised his weapon and looked into the scope. He squinted one eye closed, and adjusted the maximum zoom toggle. He checked to make sure the silencer was firmly attached. Funny-looking things, Plasma silencers. They looked just like the needle protruding from the actual weapon. Oh well. No matter, thought the figure. Tonight wasn't the time to think about the inner workings of weapons developers. This was his mission. This mission may just be the most important of his career. His comlink chirped.

"_Kilo-1-Delta, come in. Are you there? Over."_

"I'm here, Foxtrot-1-Golf. Of course you had to choose the postapocalyptic setup, over." replied the figure named Kilo.

_"Do we have much choice? Over."_

"Hooah, Foxtrot. We got Charger to thank for that. Over."

"_Do you see the POI? Over,"_ Foxtrot asked.

"Roger," replied Kilo. "He doesn't look anything different than the rest of us, though. And while I'm thinking about it, why didn't you get me a Plasma Slayer? Over."

"_Because the rest of our marksmen weren't able to rack up enough kills in time. So until you get your first actual mission, you're stuck with the good old Striker. Think about it. If looks kill, the minute someone sees you with a Striker, they burst into flames."_

"Very funny. I have eyes on the target. He's just standing there. Can we confirm that this is where they're meeting? Over."

"_Be advised, this is the best our intel could uncover. If he's there, the other will be there, too. Over."_

"Understood, Foxtrot, but with all due respect, do you remember the last time you told me that?" asked Kilo.

"_Well, we thought we were dealing with ghost dots, weren't we? Besides, you were burning in fast enough to miss most of the missiles."_

"Yeah, slight problem: I don't have hoverboots because you advised against it. So don't be surprised if I blame you in my report."

"_Like you ever surprise me, Kilo-1-Delta. Now get in the game. Out."_

With that, Kilo tapped his ear with his index finger, ensuring he would not be able to communicate with Foxtrot. He rested his Striker on the open cabin of the crane, his finger on the trigger and his eye on the scope. The target was in his sights. It pained Kilo to point a gun at the first target. _He's just standing there, smoking and loitering. Why can't I take the shot now_? thought Kilo_. _Another figure appeared next to Kilo's target. The second target, a Cragmite. Kilo shifted his scope over to the other figure, away from the smoke cloud that now enveloped the first due to his smoking. A hand reached out of the smoke cloud with something closed inside it. The Cragmite took two long digits from one arm and took the object from the hand reaching out of the cloud. The Cragmite looked at it, apparently in awe. The Cragmite put the object in its armor, and then talked to the smoke cloud. It paused, then nodded, then nodded again. It looked straight at Kilo, who was more than 100 meters away, took something out of its armor and threw it. Kilo followed the object with his scope.

_Oh boy. Agorian cocktail._ Kilo jumped from the crane as a huge explosion tore apart the cockpit he was standing in mere seconds ago. He felt the explosion on his back. His adrenaline rushed. He landed on a platform, rolling as soon as his feet brushed the surface. He ran along it, and as he did, he heard gunfire and felt bullets whiz by him, some ricocheting off his standard armor. There was a wall up ahead made of the sides of cargo containers. _Ah, no biggie, _thought Kilo, still running._ That looks about as high as my training course back home._ Immediately, he looked for something that could function as a wall. He looked to his right, but no such luck. He looked to his left- perfect! A giant, hollow cylinder made of cement, tiled at just the right angle. Kilo jumped at the side of it, and as soon as he made contact, he pushed himself away from it with his arm and leg. The force was enough to send him over the wall feet first, with just a swipe of the hand needed to ensure he made it over. He hit the ground, executing another roll as his comlink chirped.

"_Kilo-1-Delta, what's going on out there?"_

"They knew I was here," replied Kilo, panting as he ran.

"_Running wasn't part of the plan, Kilo-1-Delta."_

"When you see an Agorian cocktail flying at you, you don't exactly stand there thinking about running, you do it."

"_Where'd they get an Agorian cocktail?"_

"Three hunches of mine: it was homemade, which is extremely unlikely; it was purchased from Grummelnet or MegaCorp or another weapons vendor; or it was purchased from Destructopalooza, DreadZone, the Agorian Battleplex. You know, one of the lethal combat arenas."

"_How d'you know it's extremely difficult to make an Agorian cocktail?"_

"Cause I've tried it before. Oh, hey," added Kilo, "Can I return fire?"

"_You know the rules of engagement: Shoot if they shoot first."_

"That's all I needed to hear. Out." Without hesitation, Kilo pulled a small Constructo Pistol out of his armor holster and started blind firing behind him while he was running down an alley. _I need somewhere I can face these guys,_ he thought to himself. _I'm definitely not hitting any of them this way. Oh, yeah! The construction site!_ Kilo ran to the end of the alley and broke hard right. A bullet passed right in front of his eyes. Kilo dropped and slid along the sidewalk for 20 feet until he spotted a blockade of trash cans in his way. He prepared to jump over them. Sliding closer, he readied his legs. _Now!_ He bent his knees and his feet dug into the ground. As they did, his upper torso broke contact with the sidewalk. Kilo put both hands on two different cans, and vaulted over safely, landing on his feet and running again. He came to the end of the sidewalk and immediately turned left.

_Why is Fastoon so deserted all of a sudden? Not that I'm complaining, but I can't be the only one that notices._ Kilo looked to the horizon, searching for the huge skeleton building. There! To the right! However, Kilo saw a problem. It was too far away. He talked into his comlink again.

"Foxtrot-1-Golf, request teleport to construction site!"

"_Copy, Kilo-1-Delta. Standby for teleport."_ Kilo closed his eyes, counted to three in his head, and opened his eyes. The teleport was better than he thought it would be. He was at the construction site, sure, but he was also on top of building, the very top. He crouched down, pulled out his Plasma Striker, holstered his Constructo pistol, and brought his left eye down to the scope. No clear shots. In fact, he didn't see anything at all from where he was. Just-

A large force hit him in the back. It felt like a boot, but it could have been the butt of a gun. Either way, Kilo was falling 90 stories. He saw his Plasma Striker hit the dirt and burst into a million pieces among bits of scrap. Kilo was going to end up the same way. He was falling, falling…

And then his parachute deployed. Kilo was jerked back. As he floated down towards his broken Plasma Striker, he grabbed the handles of his deployed parachute. He felt like his spine had been ripped out. _Since when did I have a parachute? Oh, wait, I installed it, didn't I? Huh. Short-term memory loss at my age sounds like a disaster._ Kilo's feet hit the ground hard, barely missing a large wall of concrete that would turn him into a pancake. Kilo rolled for a while, grunting in pain. Finally, after almost an eternity, the rolling stopped. Kilo rose shakily to his feet. There was no trace of his attacker. Kilo spun around, checking for any signs of life. He looked back up at the building. He turned around and started walking. But not two steps in, there was a sickening _shnnk_.

Kilo's eyes contracted. He let out a weak "Ah," his mouth open and frozen in pain. He grabbed his left rib cage, and he felt the knife still buried inside his lung. His wound felt warmer and stickier than the rest of his body. The knife had another hand on it, and that hand ripped the knife out of Kilo's chest, causing Kilo to once again give a weak cry of pain. Kilo fell over. He couldn't breathe. He knew his hand was covered in blood. His killer walked over to him and got down on Kilo, one knee on his stomach. The figure was lombax. It spoke in a metallic voice, his helmet disguising his identity.

"Well, look who we have here," the figure said. "I've been waiting a long time for this."

And with that, he thrust the blade through Kilo's heart.

Kilo's mind was reeling. There was a huge whirlpool of the whole scenario, start to finish, but backwards. _Oh, God, this hurts my eyes. _

At last, it stopped. Kilo looked around. He was laying on the ground in a simulation room. The roof and walls were all metal. A series of small, glowing white panels covered the floor. But there was one more thing there: his murderer. This figure was wearing a simulation suit, as was Kilo. It had all been fake.

The figure's helmet retracted. It was none other than Alister Azimuth. He looked at Kilo and said-

"Open a tab, Kaden."

"I had you on the ropes," replied Kilo, who was now identified as Kaden.

"I know you did. That's why I got you first," replied Alister, helping Kaden up.

"You could at least _kill_ me when you stab me the _first_ time. It's painful as hell."

"Sorry. I can't see out of this thing perfectly clear. Anyway, you've still got the knife."

"Huh?" Kaden looked down at his chest. There was a black knife handle that looked much like the real thing. "Oh. No biggie." He grabbed it and wrenched it off of his armor. It wasn't a real knife, just an extremely realistic knife handle magnetized to the armor. The blood was just special effects, as well. "These simulations are pretty good, you know that?" he asked his white and red friend. "They can generate simulation worlds larger than the room itself, the world looks and feels realistic, the pain is almost identical…"

"It's the Praetorian Guard. They're the best."

"I think I could improve on it. Hey, Alister, I thought I lost you over the wall."

"You did. I had to use my hoverboots." Kaden looked at his friend's feet. They were indeed enclosed in Alister's hoverboots.

"Oh, come on. That's not fair."

"The enemy isn't fair, Kaden. You handled the situation perfectly. The only problem is that you were up against me. Nobody's beaten me in this simulation room since I joined."

"How about the hoverboot course? What about freaking hoverball?"

"Kaden, I've told you a thousand times. If you want to have worthy hoverball opponents, join the Guard's team! I'm not coordinated enough to throw a tiny Nanotech-sized ball through my legs and hit the bullseye."

"Well, you've got enough space between your legs if you ever want to," replied Kaden as the pair walked to the simulation exit.

"Har-de-har-har, Kaden. Don't try that kind of humor with anyone else here. I'm fine with it cause we're tight, but everyone else…they'll floor you in two seconds."

"Please. I'm a perfectly toned, six-foot lombax with reflexes like the devil quick limbs, and a knack for freerunning. I can handle myself in a fight." The exit door slid open, and they walked out, still talking.

"Apparently not, as you just saw not five minutes ago."

"I never said I was a special operations agent. I probably fit into the engineer divisions," replied the yellow-brown lombax as they walked down the hall.

"Not probably, Kaden. It's definitive. You're smarter than a Terachnoid."

"Alright, enough flattery. Let's go check in with Zorven."

"Zorven? You mean _the _General Kraid Zorven?"

"Yeah. You never saw the posters, did you? '_Zorven's watching._' It meant he'd be overseeing our simulation with the rest of the normal Watchers."

"God...Zorven was watching me? Did I look good?"

"OK. Alister, I know he's the greatest military general in the history of the Omniverse, and that he's your only role model, but please, you're both dudes. At least keep it cool. No asking for his autograph or anything. Alright?"

"Yeah, whatever you say," said Alister, with the voice of an excited child.

"I'm serious. If you make me look bad, then I may not get to be where I want to be."

"Where? Finding first love behind man-sized incubators?"

"Ha, ha," replied Kaden as they entered a room full of other lombaxes. "Now be quiet," Kaden lowered his voice, "Zorven's watching." They wandered around the room in silence. This was the Watcher room. The Watchers were people pulled out of nowhere, usually troublemakers, and ordered to watch the simulation. Each Watcher got a helmet just like the ones that the participants wore. Via a first-person viewing camera in the helmets, the Watchers could individually monitor every participant as they pleased.

As Kaden walked around the Watcher room, he recognized a few of the lombaxes that had seen his performance. There was Sergeant Grathmac, the only red and white lombax who ever split a Cragmite perfectly in two. There was General Kemak, who to this day was the only lombax, and for that matter, contestant, to successfully complete DreadZone. And there was Edan, Kaden's pyrotechnic friend. Edan was the same as Kaden, but a bit more out of shape. Of course, Edan didn't have eye surgery when he was three, like Kaden, but their career paths were different. Kaden was here by choice. Edan was here by law.

Edan had a natural calling to be a punk. He loved watching things explode, especially if they were molded into the shape of a Terachnoid or a Grok or a Teratrope or a Nether; even better was the actual living organism itself. If it blew up, Edan wanted to have it. But he was also a troublemaker. Most lombaxes who lived in Edan's neighborhood would give their own far-fetched tales as to why he was so evil. Some say his parents went out for a date late at night, and Edan somehow managed to get the holo-vision stuck on the All-Horror broadcast just in time to see someone get their eye stabbed out. Others would tell you he found a dead Zyphoid in his backyard and decided to play Doctor with it. And the rest would claim the most outlandish theory of all: that he had an abusive father who played hoverball with his friends and used Edan as the ball.

Whatever the case, Edan was always in trouble. He sprayed graffiti on walls with obscene words and unnamed parts of the anatomy. He jumped off a building to cause panic, then deployed a parachute, which enraged Fastoon authorities even more. And he stole technology from Megacorp and Pollyx Industries and gave it to Kaden, who refused to take it. Kaden remembered when it happened for the first time…

_"Hey Kaden, I got you something."_

_ I took my eyes away from the robot I was upgrading and looked at my garage window. Edan was slipping in with a wide grin and something in his hand._

_ "Where've you been for the past…" I consulted my holo-watch. "…two hours?"_

_ "Looking for a nice gift you'd like," he replied, still smiling. "Here. Take it."_

_ I took it, and as I did, I recognized its hexagonal shape. I looked at him with wide eyes._

_ "This is a Terachnoid chip!"_

_ "Yeah, it is. I knew you'd like it."_

_ "I'd like it if you had actually _bought _it with your own bolts, not _stolen_ it! These aren't for sale! You stole this; I can tell!"_

_ "Calm down, Kaden," he said, his smile slightly smaller. "It's just one. How many do they have? Four million or something like that?"_

_ "Five million, seven hundred fifty two thousand, four hundred and eight. But now you stole one! You do realize they keep inventory of every single one of them? They constantly pulse their locations to the Central Intelligence on Terachnos. I look like I've stolen classified Terachnoid technology!" I sighed. "How many units of the Polaris Defense Corps were on your striped yellow tail as you left the planet?" My question answered itself as a siren came from outside my house. I looked out of my window. It looked like the whole of Terachnos was on our trail. About seven thousand ships were in view. A broadcast came from one of them._

_ "This is the Polaris Defense Corps! We read stolen Terachnoid technology in your residence! Come out with your hands up or we will open fire!"_

_ I sighed and looked at Edan. "We're going to do what they say. You're going to tell them that you stole their technology, and that I had absolutely nothing to do with it. OK?" Silence came from my friend. "OK?!" I said with more force._

_ "Fine," said Edan. I opened my garage and started to walk out, hands above my head. Unfortunately, I didn't duck, and my head ran into the door._

_ "Ow," I said stupidly. I crouched down, hand still over my head, and waddled out. I turned around to see Edan limbo under the door, hands at his side and relaxed._

_ "Hands in the air!" came the voice again. Edan sighed and put his hands up._

_ "It was me! He had nothing to do with this!" he yelled. "Thank you," I mouthed. As I did, I tasted something metallic in my mouth. I also became aware of a warm liquid running down my face from my nose. I sniffed, hoping to stem the flow of blood._

_ "We'll see how that holds up in court, lombax!"_

_I really hope that doesn't come back to haunt me,_ thought Kaden as he looked at Edan. So many more memories came rushing back. The heist at Torren IV. The hoverball championships on Fastoon. _Good times…_ thought Kaden. Absorbed in his thoughts, he was unaware that there was a hand on his shoulder, until someone spoke to him.

"Come on, son," said the voice. "Let's go."

Kaden turned around and looked at the lombax behind him. General Zorven was talking to him in a stern but friendly way. Nothing about the veteran hero seemed negative. His body was relaxed. His feet were both facing forward. His brown eyes sparkled with sincerity. It was almost the older, happier brother version of Alister. Well, maybe not the eye patch.

"Corporal, I need to debrief you and Sergeant Azimuth, and I can't be in two places at once. I need you to come with me."

"Yes, sir," said Kaden hastily. "Sorry, sir. I was just thinking…"

"Looked more like you were in a trance, son," said the general.

"I would hazard a guess that it did," said Kaden with a breathy chuckle. "Where are we going, General?"

"The conference room. Probably the most boring area of the whole camp."

"Well, that's quite a strong opinion, sir. Are opinions alright here?"

Zorven chuckled. "You're funny, Corporal. Walk with me."

And so they walked. Back out of the Watcher room, down the hall in the same direction Kaden was walking before, they talked.

"What kind of work were you thinking of when you signed up for the Guard?" asked Zorven.

"Honestly, I started out thinking I wanted to be a special operations agent. But then I thought I really wanted to start digging into the science divisions. It comes naturally for me," said Kaden.

"Oh, really?" asked Zorven, seemingly interested. "Well, if you want to be the best of the best, you must have your sights set high."

"I do, sir."

"There's something that might interest you."

"What is it?"

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you that. Not until you're actually in the science division and high enough in the ranks. Right now, that's classified info for you. Sorry."

"I understand, General."

Zorven smiled at Kaden. He stopped at a door and put his hand on the knob.

"Alright. You ready, Corporal?"

"Ready, sir."

"Then here we go." With that Zorven opened the door and went inside, Kaden following suit.

As Kaden entered the conference room, he couldn't believe that it was almost completely stereotypical of covert agencies. It had the oval table, the black chairs, the high, metal walls, the holo-projectors built into the table, the works. The only difference was the weapons hanging everywhere. Constructo pistols, shotguns, and bombs; Plasma Strikers and Slayers; seemingly dead Sonic Eruptors; Lava Guns; Vipers; even the artwork was of weapons and violence. Kaden thought it odd that a conference room was also an armory of sorts. _Whatever,_ he thought. _The Guard has its reasons._ Plus, he didn't want to criticize. Zorven was watching. Kaden saw Alister sitting down on the chair to the left at the very end of the table. Kaden walked over and sat next to him. Zorven took the chair opposite Kaden and put his elbows up on the table, hands folded. He looked at Kaden directly, who fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Congratulations, Corporal," he said. "I believe you are worthy of graduation, maybe even a promotion if I can get it."

"Thank you, sir." Kaden was all smiles.

"However, that doesn't mean the missions was without mistake."

"I understand, sir," said Kaden.

"Number one: you actually let the transfer happen. You had more than one shot where you could have painted the Cragmite red. In a real scenario, you have to make sure that the package never actually gets handed off. You have to take the shot at the right time, make it look like it might actually happen, then you take the shot and scare the hell out of the guy in possession."

"Yes, sir."

"Number two: you didn't check the top of the construction building for enemies when you got there. That's also a life-or-death situation. If you just start running right into it, you might miss a couple of snipers or special operations guys, and then it's game over."

"Understood, sir. I'll do better in the field."

"Good. I'm glad to hear that. Now, if you want any pointers, I can give them to you if I'm available. There are so many young Guardsmen who could be so much better if they just asked for guidance. Don't be one of those Guardsmen, Corporal.

"You may leave us now, Corporal. I still need to talk to Sergeant Azimuth."

"Thank you, sir." Kaden got up and left the conference room. Ask for help? Of course. Kaden wanted to succeed at everything he did. Why not ask Zorven about joining the hoverball team? After all, since he came back from front line work, he showed a very bountiful passion for hoverball. His desire was so strong that Zorven not only became the referee during every match on Fastoon, including professional hoverball, he was also the Head of the Galactic Hoverball Committee. He was ideal for Kaden's question. But now as not the time. Zorven was still talking to Alister. _Besides, I have another little activity to get to…_

Kaden walked down halls for about three minutes. He stopped to look behind some of the doors. He passed the science wing, where they were experimenting with some kind of cryogenic grenade. He passed the engineering area, where he saw two lombax-sized robots fighting each other with mixed martial arts. One's head was disconnected from its body. Two lombaxes in the room with grease stains on their overalls wrote down something on their clipboards from behind safety glass. Kaden took his eyes away and looked ahead of him. There was the exit. This part of the science division was the right one. This is where he was instructed to meet.

Kaden walked right out of the exit. Fastoon, the real, sunny, friend-filled Fastoon. It looked so much better than the simulation. Famous for the Purple Horizon effect. Home of the lombaxes, and the number one tourism spot for hoverball enthusiasts. Unfortunately, Kaden was in the parking lot, so some of the starships were obstructing his view. He looked at them. _I'm making progress towards a new one. Course it'll be a lot better than these old junkies._

He turned to the right, and went down a sidewalk to the dorms. The Lombax Praetorian Academy was extremely confusing at times, especially the pathways. The Academy took up five kilometers in length and two in width; you were expected to get lost in your first year there. That's why some of the upperGuardsmen had been stationed on the routes to the different areas where they had sessions.

Kaden walked for a while, just taking in semi-deep breaths and seeing the sights. "Worthy of graduation, maybe even a promotion if I can get it." To have General Kris Zorven say that in person was…more than an honor. _Is that even legal? Can I hear that with my own ears?_ For some reason, Zorven made others around him uncomfortable, but he had no trace of negative energy in him. In fact, he was a friendly lombax, or at least that's how all the stories went. The only thing Zorven had wrath for was his enemy. Kaden would hate to be his enemy.

Kaden stopped in front of a door in the dorm area. It was a janitor's closet. _Don't know why they bother putting us with these things. Just use the old robots deemed unsafe for combat._ He walked inside it, closing it as he went. _Why here?_ He waited. Seconds turned to minutes. His anxiety built. _The janitor might open the door._ He pulled out a tranquilizer and hid behind a crate. He waited, crouching and hoping he could not be seen. The door opened a minute later. A female voice came.

"Kaden? Is that you?"

Kaden stashed his tranquilizer in his belt and stood up. He looked into the face of his girlfriend, Jasmine. Kaden loved everything about her, from her violet eyes to her silky fur. She stood as high as he did, but was not as well-built. She looked at him with an odd expression on her face.

"My Guardsman in shining armor?" she said sarcastically.

"I just thought that the janitor might come along."

"You do realize they never use this place?"

"I do, but I figured with my luck, the one time they did use it would be when I was in it."

Jasmine smiled, then threw her arms around him. Kaden wished he could return the favor, but he was having trouble breathing. Jasmine relaxed her arms, and Kaden gasped for air.

"Sorry," Jasmine said.

"Don't worry," Kaden panted, massaging his throat. "I just went toe-to-toe with Alister. I doubt anything could harm me in any real way."

"Don't start thinking you're invincible, Kaden. You'll just end up getting killed."

Kaden sighed through his nose, enjoying their embrace. As he thought about it, they never really had enough moments like this. Kaden breathed softly, following an invisible rhythm, until finally, Jasmine said,

"Kaden?"

"Yeah?"

"You're purring."

"Oh, sorry." Kaden felt his face grow hot, and he knew he was blushing. But that didn't matter, even if Jasmine could see him, he was a lombax, and lombaxes never really showed their blush because of the whole fur thing. He loved fur. It was so useful. Unfortunately, it was also easily flammable and it was hard to get mud-like liquids out of it. You take a shower every day with that stuff in your fur, and it'd still be there after a week. Luckily, Kaden hadn't had a mud run since six months ago, when he graduated to his fifth year in the Praetorian Guard. It made him look clean.

"No, don't stop," said Jasmine. "I get all warm inside when you do that."

Kaden smiled, and resumed breathing through his nose. His throat vibrated with every breath. It felt good. He felt Jasmine's grip loosen, and he loosened his in turn. They looked at each other, staring deep into each other's eyes. Kaden could hold her in his arms forever. Unfortunately, he couldn't, because his comlink screeched at him.

"Ring, ring, ring, ringgg…_Ring, ring, ring, ringgg_… Y_AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"_

"Sorry. That's my alarm," said Kaden sincerely. "I'm going to be late for quantum physics class. We're discussing how we can verify that reality is actually real."

"I'm just wondering if that's Alister's voice sped up to an incessant yell," said Jasmine.

"Yeah. I put cameras in his dorm to see what he does when he thinks nobody's looking," said Kaden, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You two have the weirdest friendship of anybody I've ever seen."

"That's what keeps it interesting."

"Well, Kaden, we both need to be somewhere and this isn't it. I'm sorry if I…"  
>"No, don't apologize," said Kaden quickly. "You didn't do anything that'll harm me in any way."<p>

"Even so, I'll see you tomorrow, Kaden." Jasmine walked off into the Fastoon sunlight. She turned to the right, where Kaden had come from, and disappeared behind the wall.

"Yeah," said Kaden, quietly and sadly. "See you…"

He walked out of the closet and turned left. _Off to quantum physics…_

As Kaden walked, he started daydreaming about Jasmine. He looked at an image of her and pasted it to the back of his eyelids, still walking. Before he knew it, he was at his classroom door. He looked up at the domed, metallic building, then down at the doorknob. He turned it and entered the room.

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><p><strong>You're wondering about a bunch of stuff right now.<strong>

**The Simulator -Staging Kaden's fake death seemed like a perfect start to a story. The design of the post-simulation room came from the Clone Wars cartoons. **

**General Kraid Zorven -"Kris" seemed like too much of an earth-like name to use for a lombax. Hence, "Kraid."**

**Edan - He speaks for himself: He's a rebel. **

**Kaden's Flashback - Past experiences are extremely helpful yet seriously underestimated assets in creative really give people an idea about the background behind the current situation a character is experiencing.**


	2. Ch 2- Home Sweet Dorm

"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity."

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

**Home Sweet Dorm**

Kaden walked into his dorm. He took his pack off of his back and put it next to his bed. He took his shirt off and lay back on the bed, lower legs dangling above the ground and hands folded behind his ears, enjoying the cool climate of the room as it rippled through his fur. He took a deep breath and sighed through his nose as he looked up at the metal ceiling. It was painted to look like wood, of course, just for comfort. But then again, when did the Guard ever care about comfort? They certainly didn't consider it when they started crafting the bed mattresses. Kaden ended up sleeping on top of the covers just so he could get some rest. The rest of the place was nice, though. Everything had a certain something to make it unique, yet everything seemed uniform.

Kaden sat up. _Well, I did it. No use worrying about the future now. Let's just enjoy Zorven's praise for as long as we can._ He fired up his VG8500, grabbed a controller, and started playing.

_I wonder if we'll rematch tonight_, he thought. He had been using his VG8500 strictly for weekends, but now that he was graduating tomorrow, he figured it wouldn't hurt. He had recently purchased the new installment of the _Road to War_ series, an extremely gory first-person shooter game which followed the story line of the Lombax Praetorian Guard when they fought off Agorian invaders ten years ago. Kaden had already breezed through the campaign on the _Insane_ difficulty, and he decided to try his skills on the PlayCloud, a multiplayer feature that included weapon customization, decals for your avatar, in-game communication, and more. There, he had met his gaming nemesis: LombLordLucky7z. They had a sort of love-hate relationship, because they were often paired on the same team, not separated. And LombLord only played Team games. Kaden tried to find LombLord on the player list on every single one-man-army game type, but to no avail. Based on LombLord's gameplay, Kaden guessed he was actually Terachnoid. After all, even though some people had poor communications headsets, there were never any Terachnoid-sounding lombaxes he ever knew.

Kaden navigated to the multiplayer menu and selected _Team Elimination_, where he was most likely to find LombLord_._ With a 5-minute playing time, each team, Agorian and Lombax, needed to rack up 1000 points before the other team did or before time ran out in order to win _Team Elimination_. Normal weapon kills scored 50 points, special weapons kills scored 100. Weapons were just rifles and shotguns and things like that. Special weapons were drones and high-damage grenades. Even though Kaden was patriotic, he enjoyed Agorian weapons more than he did Lombax ingenuity. Of course, he was never actually on the Agorian side, except for select few times.

The PlayCloud started to load his round on the postapocalyptic city map. He checked the team listings. He was Agorian this time. _Alright! Get ready to die, you sad little men!_ He looked at who he would be against. There were a few players he recognized, mostly because they were so easy to kill. Then he saw LombLord on the Lombax team.

_YES!_ Kaden smiled in victory. _You're going down, buddy. No luck this time!_ The game started, and Kaden selected his pack. It was one of the best combinations on the Agorian side of the battle. It consisted of a high-powered assault rifle with a sight, modified to fire laser beams that traveled so fast, it looked like a solid beam of light; an energy pistol that could blow someone's head off, fitted with a silencer; a foot-long knife that could go right through an enemy; and a timed grenade that could stick to any surface, including enemy players.

Kaden chose his weapons and started sprinting down a path to the right. He stopped behind a building, crouched, and looked around the corner. There was an enemy unaware of his presence. He switched to his pistol and shot the guy in the arm. There was a large flash of blue Lombax blood, and the enemy fell down, grabbing the stump that used to be his arm. He bled out and died, earning Kaden the first kill. Kaden got up and started running again. He sprinted, then hit the crouch button. His character slid feetfirst and turned to the left 90 degrees. Kaden saw another enemy. He pulled out his rifle and unloaded three rounds.

His target's head was hit by three laser beams. The enemy now had nothing but a lower jaw remaining from his head. He bled freely and vigorously, falling over backwards. _Butcher!_ came a deep male voice from the game. _Knife proximity grenade ready when wanted!_ Kaden was about to press the button to give him his reward, and then second-guessed himself. _Let's end the game with LombLord being impaled._ No sooner had he said this than he saw the death screen. His character's head had been blown off, and orange blood painted the dirt. The kill log read _LombLordLucky7z executed LuckyShot13._ The screen showed LombLord's character in a window directly above. He heard a voice via communications headset: LombLord had commented on his kill.

"_I seriously doubt the realistic brain splatter has that wide a range for an Agorian."_

_Ooooh, getting sneaky_ and _intelligent, are we?_ thought Kaden. He switched his pack in the respawn menu, equipping an Agorian version of a Plasma Slayer. The minute he hit the ground, he sprinted to the window LombLord had shot him from. Nobody was there. Not even…

He remembered his simulation, and ducked just in time to miss a knife blade. He spun around and shot his attacker in the leg. His victim's leg flew off, and the body fell on top of Kaden's character. Kaden moved the body out of his way and ran out of the building again. He checked the kill log once again. _LuckyShot13 took his revenge on LombLordLucky7z._

_Hell yeah! That's a win for Kaden right there!_ Kaden heard LombLord yell an extremely obscene word in Galactic Standard, which lifted Kaden's spirits; Terachnoids only swore intensely when they were more than irritated. Victory in mind, Kaden turned right and ran behind a pile of rocks. A lone sniper right behind him shot at him and missed. Kaden threw a sticky grenade on the enemy, just for fun. The enemy was blown into little pieces, and when the smoke cleared, there was a large portion of blood where his enemy had been. Kaden looked at the kill log once more. _LuckyShot13 obliterated LombLordLucky7z._

_This poor guy's taking a beating!_ Kaden looked at the scoreboard. He was leading his team, and his team was winning, 300-175. A chat message on the screen caught his attention. _LombLordLucky7z_to_LuckyShot13: F**K YOU LITTLE B*****D! _Kaden laughed. He wished he had his own headset. However, there was no time for that now. The game was close enough for Kaden to keep a cautious eye on the scoreboard. He equipped his knife grenade and dashed to the window where LombLord drew first blood on him. _That oughta surprise a certain somebody,_ thought Kaden to himself. He spotted an enemy and ran out to where his first death occurred. Kaden took careful aim and shot his victim's ears off. The enemy fell to the ground, grabbing the place on his head where his ears used to be. Kaden ran up to him, and put him out of his misery with a knife between the eyes.

_Merciless!_ said the male voice again. _Mini-Nuke ready!_ Kaden thought about it, then equipped his Mini-Nuke. _It'd be a shame if this didn't go to good use,_ he said to himself. He ran around like a mad Agorian, firing large bombs at everything in his path. The enemies caught in the explosions were hurled every which way, bringing a huge lead to Kaden's team. He checked the scoreboard.

_Whoa! 750-300! That's a decimation right there!_ Kaden was feeling invincible. Every enemy who tried to touch him had some vital part of their body detached, be it their head, their arm, their legs- Kaden had run out of body parts to shoot off. He did die a few more times, but he didn't feel too bad about being in the wrong place when a perfectly-cooked grenade hit him in the head. At the end of the game, Kaden's team had pulled a huge victory, 1000-350. The final kill had featured Kaden's proximity grenade impaling LombLord in perfect synchronization and splitting him completely in half.

_YEAH BABY! WOO-HOO!_ Kaden raised a fist of victory. It wasn't until now he noticed his hands were sweating quite intensely, making his VG8500 controller extremely difficult to grip. _Alright, enough satisfaction for one day._ Kaden turned off his VG9800 and sat back down, giving a sigh of satisfaction. He heard something. Now that his VG9800 wasn't giving off any sound, he thought he heard Edan playing his holo-guitar. Who else would be playing songs from the latest album from the Fongoid heavy metal band, _Tetramite Death Sentence_? How they managed the equipment under Polaris Defense initiative 1887-Upsilon, Kaden had no idea. Even now, he could see Edan's hand sliding up and down the neck of his holo-guitar, and his other hand playing so fast sparks were coming off of the strings. Kaden chuckled to himself. _Ever since Edan was a teenager…_

The door opened and Alister entered the dorm. Kaden stood up and looked at his friend. Everything about Alister was a mystery to Kaden. The facial expressions, the body posture, even the tail movement followed no pattern whatsoever.

"Okay. You're obviously not giving me the results of your review through telepathy. How'd it go?" asked Kaden. "Either that, or you've never seen me shirtless before, which I highly doubt."

"Not as bad as I thought it would go, actually," replied Alister with a tone of relief in his voice. "He said it was better than some of the other simulations he had seen. For example, he said somebody cooked a live grenade for a second too long in one simulation five or so years ago. But he did point out that a smoke cloud isn't really the best stealth tool."

"Yeah, and I know why. Lombaxes tend to absorb smoke. Which is the reason no Lombax I know smokes."

"He also said that I needed to aim better. He looked at me and said, 'You do realize that it's almost impossible to miss the target when you're stabbing it?' Then he said that I always have to aim for the heart. Sorry about that. I couldn't see very well," added Alister.

"Well, look at it this way. If you stab a Cragmite anywhere except the heart, you're dead."

"Can't argue with you there. But hopefully, I won't have to kill anything anytime soon."

"It's the Praetorian Guard, Alister. They're gonna be pulling out every single Lombax they can pull out to fight against the enemy."

"Which means the two of us."

"It depends. I still don't know where I'm headed, though I have my sights on the science division. I'll have the perfect motivation for creating something ingenious and functional."

"Yeah, you're best friend's gonna be using it. I graduated, after all." Alister paused. "So what have you been up to?"

"Nothing huge. Just another debate in quantum physics, used the VG8500 for a while."

"I thought you didn't really use the VG8500."

"Well, I didn't have any research or projects assigned today, so why waste tonight worrying about what's going to happen in the future?"

"We're all gonna die in the future, that's why."

Kaden sighed in exasperation and looked at his friend. "Only you, Alister, could make such a boneheaded comment."

"Whatever. Fire up the 8500. I want to see how good you really are," he said with a homicidal smile.

"Better than you, Prince Ali." Kaden did as he was told. He opened up the multiplayer menu, tossing a controller to Alister. "I hope you trained for this." He selected _Splitscreen Mode_, enabling two players to use the same game system at once. Kaden selected _Elimination_. In this mode, it was every man for himself, ranging from two players to sixteen. The score limit was the same as _Team Elimination_, but the time limit was doubled, giving every player 10 minutes to reach 1000 points. In _Elimination_, you chose your species before each game; Kaden, however, had figured out how to code his VG8500 to always make Player 1 Agorian. Alister was now Lombax, and he looked at Kaden oddly.

"Why are you Agorian? They suck."

"I don't," replied Kaden. "Everything I have on the Agorian side is fully upgraded. I've basically become the best Agorian warrior in the game. For the entire Omniverse. Cool, right?"

"Yeah, but you're still not in my league."

"Oh, please. I passed your league in my first-ever match," said Kaden, selecting his pack and running around, looking for Alister. "Now shut up. I don't like it when my prey's distracted." The first few minutes of the game featured Alister and Kaden running around a base on Iris, looking for each other and shooting randomly, hoping to draw the other guy out in the open. Alister, however, ended up with the first kill, shooting Kaden in the head with a Plasma Slayer.

"Reattach your head and try again, Kaden. I'm stealing your gun," said Alister. Kaden said nothing. He was too busy waiting for the right time. Wait for it…wait for it…Now! Kaden started shooting at Alister with an Agorian machine gun. Alister's lombax was nothing but bits and pieces when Kaden had finished with him.

_Revenge!_ said the deep voice. _Double points!_ Kaden looked around. Alister was nowhere to be seen. Kaden ran into a building, pulling out his pistol and blowing out a window. He reequipped his assault rifle and looked for Alister, who was running right past him without even looking around. Kaden opened fire, and Alister hit the ground. The game went on like this. Kaden kept shooting Alister down, but Alister got a few lucky shots off. Just them, no computer-generated players. It took almost the whole 10 minutes, but Kaden eventually stabbed Alister in the back to win the game. Kaden turned to look at his friend.

"Told ya you should have trained."

Alister responded by hitting Kaden on the arm, smiling and shaking his head.

"Alright. Well, I've gotta be somewhere," he said. "See you tomorrow." He walked out of Kaden's dorm, closing the door behind him.

"See ya," said Kaden. _Graduation tomorrow! Thank God this is over! _Kaden thought about what would happen. He'd get promoted, probably put in a science division or a special operations platoon, but either way, he'd absolutely love the experience. What was it Zorven said?

"_There's something that might interest you…unless you're in the science division and high enough in the ranks…that's classified info."_

As Kaden ran that through in his mind, it struck him how appealing it was to be part of a clandestine organization in the Praetorian Guard. He would be requesting a spot in the science division, and would hopefully be part of something that would be remembered for years to come.

Kaden glanced out of his window. The dorms opposite him were full of light, and he could still hear Edan's guitar playing at finger-numbing speed. In one window, there was a shadow of a Lombax with his finger up on one hand and a beer bottle in the other. In another window, a Lombax was jumping off a table into a crowd of other Lombaxes. Kaden laughed, shook his head, and watched. The Lombax in the first window was shaking his beer-free hand and looking up at the shadow of a fan on the ceiling. Kaden sucked in some air through his teeth, but smiled. The two moons were full and high in the air. It was midnight, by the looks of it.

_Is it that time already?_ Kaden realized he had not eaten since before his simulation. _Guess I only have time for a nutrient tube. Otherwise, I'll just be up all night._ Kaden opened a drawer on the desk next to his bed and pulled out a silver tube. He ripped off one end and tipped it back to his mouth, swallowing the contents easily. It had the consistency of paste, and it tasted like starship oil. Kaden, of course, somehow managed to enable the addition of a sweetener without skewering the nutrients themselves. So his drawer was now full of sweetened, starship oil-filled nutrient tubes. He took off his pants and lay in his bed. _I made it,_ he thought to himself. He smiled as he thought of everything the Praetorian Academy had made him endure to get here: virtual-reality simulations, lateral thinking, mud runs, 20 kilometer treks through huge mountains with backpacks and weapons weighing him down. All of it was finally put to good use. Kaden was about to start his sixth and final year at the academy. After he graduated, who knew what he was going to do? Was he going to lead a war on the frontlines of battle? Was he going to build a weapon that could eliminate the lombaxes' every enemy? Would he be a stealth specialist retrieving lost artifacts or lombax technology? Kaden thought about what he wanted to do for his race. _Science division, definitely,_ he thought. _I'd probably just research stuff when I first got there, but I want to be part of that classified project Zorven was talking about._ He sighed. _I just hope I'll be accepted. Still can't believe I'm graduating tomorrow._

With this in mind, he closed his eyes and started to sleep. Edan's holo-guitar was still playing loudly in the distance. Lombaxes were yelling and whooping in celebration, and the two moons rose over the Praetorian Academy the night before Kaden would start his journey. Little did he know how much perpetual peril he would be in…

* * *

><p><strong>VG8500: Since ACIT has a VG9800, Kaden started somewhere with a much less technologically advanced gaming system. The way Ratchet and Clank games are cranking out, the makers of the VG systems would be able to crank out gaming systems that fast.<strong>

_**Road to**_**_ War -_ Inspired by _Call of Duty _and _Blacksite: Area 51. _The Mini-Nuke made its debut in _Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando_, the second-ever Ratchet and Clank video game, and I assume no copyrights to it whatsoever. The PlayCloud is a multiplayer server strictly devoted to the _Road to War _series, and is similar in working to the iCloud. Kaden loves video games and the lore behind them, and he's always looking for a good game that isn't all that well-known.**

**LombLordLucky7z - ACIT helps us with the plot line. "Who needs girls when you've got pizza! And a VG9800 game system!"Terachnoids were the nerds of choice.**

_**Tetramite Death Sentence **_**- Fongoid heavy metal band. Yes, _TDS _is a Fongoid band, which is nigh impossible. They started out by calling themselves _Terrorism 101._ They knew PDI 1887-Upsilon would prohibit their dreams, so they struck a deal with Polaris – the Polaris Defense Corps would gather musical instruments and give them to _Terrorism 101_, as long as Polaris never had to hear their music. _Terrorism 101_, however, found a loophole: Polaris never objected to hearing _Tetramite Death Sentence'_s music. This exploit got them featured in a magazine article: _The Smartest-Ass Smart Asses of the Year._**

**Nutrient Tubes - They don't play a huge role, but later, they will be used heavily as Kaden (INSERT SPOILERS HERE!). The Army has Meals Ready to Explode, and the Praetorian Guard has nutrient tubes.**


	3. Ch 3- Graduation

"All war represents a failure of diplomacy."

-Tony Benn

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

**Graduation**

Kaden woke to the sound of Lombax Praetorian Academy's band. They were playing over the intercoms that usually sourced the Lombax Reveille that played automatically every 24 hours at five in the morning. Kaden, however, read 8:30 on his projection clock. _They let us sleep in this year…_

He yawned and rubbed his eyes. His fur was in such a pattern that he didn't have any stripes on his body. A shower would take care of that. His vision was blurred, and he felt a bit drowsy. But it was graduation day. The very thought put a smile on his face that made him look stupid, but he didn't care. This was the only day he lived for, when all of his hard work paid the bills…

He walked over to his closet and opened the door. His uniforms, all color-coded and placed by size, were perfectly neat, straight, unwrinkled, and just perfect for the events of today. He took his black dress uniform shirt and pants, grabbed his white gloves, and took his black beret off of his hat rack. He threw his clothes on, careful to make sure they were still as perfect as they were when they were on the rack, and tilted his beret slightly to the left. He checked himself out in his dorm window.

_Textbook class,_ he thought to himself, glad that nobody could see him pulling faces in his reflection. He squinted his eyes and wrinkled his nose, then put on a toothy smile and threw up a peace symbol with his hands. He laughed in a classic teenager octave, and he was filled with joy and carelessness. His door opened, and he turned around to see a flash of something running at him before throwing its arms around him.

"Kaden!" It was Jasmine. She, too, had the same uniform, though it was a smaller size and didn't include a beret. "You look so handsome!" she said.

"_I_ look good?" he replied. "Have you seen your reflection?"

Jasmine kissed him on the cheek. Ignoring his last question, she said, "So, today's the day, huh? After five years of hard work, we're at the top. How exciting, right?"

"Yeah," said Kaden, smiling and looking up, staring into oblivion and becoming absorbed in his memories. He shook his head and looked back into the eyes of his girlfriend. "Do you know where you want to be when you become a Guardsman?"

"I'm thinking combat medic. The adrenaline rush of battlefield warfare and the meticulous task of repairing wounds and injuries…It sounds like a lot of fun. I'm assuming you'll be in pyrotechnics or cryogenics or some other something like that?"

"No specific branch, just science in general. Every type of science there is out there, and I'm hoping to work with them all."

"Well, Kaden, when we're worlds away and worrying if the other of us is dead, just remember this: I love you." With that, she threw her arms around him and kissed him. Kaden did the same. It was perfect. Everything was right with the Omniverse. He was moving up on the food chain. He would get his dream job, maybe even his dream girl if future events went off without a hitch.

Jasmine broke the kiss, but allowed Kaden to hold her a little longer. "I'll see you tonight," she said. "Congratulations, Kaden."

"You, too," he said softly, smiling at her. He let go of her, and she left his dorm. She stopped at the doorway and turned around, mouth opened as if she wanted to say something. She closed her mouth, looked down, then shook her head, and walked out. Kaden watched her leave. His heart burned with desire. Only he knew how much he loved her; right now he was only halfheartedly expressing his love for her. Even though they saw each other as often as possible in their spare time, he knew he wasn't showing his full character. He deeply, truly loved her, and he had an intense hope that she felt the same. Tonight had to be the night…

Alister walked into his dorm, clearly as happy as he had been when he first heard he was accepted into the Guard. He, too, was wearing Kaden's outfit; they were mandatory for formal occasions, such as funerals, on-base weddings, graduation, and so on and so forth. He threw his arms around Kaden, hugging him the way men hug each other- a few pats on the back and a second's worth of contact.

"We made it, punk," he said happily.

"That makes two of us, sleazebag," Kaden retorted playfully. Alister chuckled.

"When's the ceremony?" he asked.

"I think it's at 1200 sharp. You have any family coming to see you walk?"

"My mom, obviously. That's probably it," Alister said, his tone now less happy. Kaden immediately wished he hadn't asked.

"Your dad was a great lombax, Alister. He didn't deserve to die that way."

"Don't talk about it," said Alister. "I don't want to be the cloud that takes the sun away. It's graduation! I'm one step closer to being a soldier, just like Dad!" He said it with an attempted courage about him.

"Well, then, I wish you the best of luck. Hey, you been in contact with Edan lately? Do you know if he's graduating today? I just thought of it."

"Actually, no. I haven't spoken to him for…" Alister paused, thinking. "…five or so days."

"Why don't we go down and check? His dorm's on the ground level."

"That makes sense," said Alister. "They've listed him as 'expendable' by putting him on the lower level. If there's a Cragmite attack, he'll the first to know…and probably one of the first to die."

"Okay, can we not think about that and just go visit him?" Kaden's tone was impatient; Alister had a habit of rambling for hours on end about the worst-case scenario for every situation. The one thing Kaden didn't want to happen to him was getting talked to death by his best friend mere hours before he graduated. Orvus forbid. Alister humored him, however, and he walked out of Kaden's dorm, Kaden following suit. As they walked through hallways and down staircases, they talked about their career plans.

"Hey, Alister, I know that you want to be a front lines soldier, but which specialty do you want to be in?" asked Kaden.

"Actually, I talked with Zorven. He said that I would best work in a special operations division."

"Go on."

"That's the thing," said Alister. "He refused to tell me anything else; he said that my level of physique and knowledge of tactical warfare and strategy puts me among those who have been classified. I can't know anything else unless I actually work in a spec ops division."

"Well, isn't that cliché?" Kaden said with a high, comedic voice, his mouth warped into an unnatural smile. He relaxed his mouth and talked in a normal voice once again. "Same here. Zorven says that I would be great as a scientist, but he can't tell me anything else unless I join the science division."

"With our luck, all of other lombaxes know everything about their career decisions while we're kept in the dark," said Alister. The pair stopped in front of a door. Kaden, who was closer to it, turned the knob and opened it. The door swung open, and they walked inside. Edan's dorm was the same as Kaden's as far as looks went. The only difference was the neatness. Kaden's dorm was absolutely Guardsman-worthy. Everything was straight and clean, there were no visible dirt molecules anywhere, and his items were all ordered perfectly. Edan, on the other hand, looked like he could really care less.

Clothing of every kind was strewn about the room in every which way imaginable. Edan's bed mattress was lower on one corner than the rest of the frame; part of the frame had come loose after Edan purposefully smashed his holo-guitar into it. The resulting heap of metal had taken Kaden hours to repair, and Edan had never wrecked his guitar since that occasion. Different snack items with brand names on them littered the floor. Kaden whistled.

"You check for any vitals in here. I'll go grab a shovel," said Alister.

No sooner had he said that than sarcastic laughter started emanating from the room. Something moved in the far left corner of the dorm. Edan stepped out of the shadows.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"We just wanted to know if you graduated," said Alister uncertainly.

"Me? Graduate?" Edan played dumb as he walked over and lay on his bed, looking up at the ceiling and tossing a hoverball. "Army learn hard. How army, white bread?" He held both hands up, pretending there was something between them, and clicked his teeth.

"You've made your point," replied Alister. "No need to berate on the whole 'You're normal, I'm white-furred' thing."

"Why aren't you graduating, Edan?" asked Kaden. "Don't you want to?"

"_Want_ to?" Edan said in disbelief. "Why would I _want_ to? Free meals, same crap repeating itself over and over, shooting things and blowing stuff up- this is the life, dude." He sat up. "I don't know why those guys would want to risk their lives doing this B.S. on interplanetary orders when you can do the same damn thing on Fastoon. Plus, the commanders know me," he said with a sly, trouble-making smile. "I love it when people know me." Without warning, he threw the hoverball directly at Kaden's head at 120 kilometers an hour. The yellow lombax's upper body quickly bent towards the right, leaning out of the hoverball's path. Kaden threw a hand up and caught it, turning three hundred and sixty degrees to let the kinetic energy from the ball transfer to his hand slowly enough to prohibit it from stinging his hand. Not only that, but he couldn't resist showing off. He tossed it back to Edan, who caught it and smiled.

"Nice. You've still got it," he said.

"But you must have some regrets," said Alister, a bit desperately.

"Yeah, but the pros far outweigh the cons," came Edan's answer. He looked at his two friends: Kaden, whose suit was a bit disheveled from his hoverball encounter, and Alister, who looked like he came out of a textbook. "You guys are dressed like you're gonna go cruise chicks." Edan tried, but failed, to say it with a straight face, and he snorted derisively. "Have fun."

"Sorry, Edan," said Kaden sincerely. "Good luck next year."

"Orvus forbid, Kaden. See you around." With that, Kaden and Alister left Edan's dorm, closed the door behind them, and walked down to the parking lot. They entered Kaden's red speeder, and headed off to the auditorium a click away- all the way on the other side of campus. They talked while driving.

"I can't believe that guy!" said Alister with anger in his voice.

"Alister, calm down. He can rot in that dorm if he wants. If he doesn't want to be condemned to that stinkhole, then he'll have to spruce it up a little," said Kaden worriedly, trying to calm Alister before he started yelling.

"But talking about those guys laying down their lives right now like it doesn't even matter!"

"Alister, that wasn't personal or anything. He doesn't even know that your father died in combat."

"I know it wasn't personal, but that was totally unnecessary! I should report him for blasphemy against the Guard!"

"Alister, it was a misunderstanding."

"_How can you say-_"

"Alister!" Kaden's tone was now short and authoritative. Alister heeded him, and fell silent. "As I say, Edan knows nothing of your family history. Now, I can see the angle he's coming from, and I see his point, but there isn't a Zoni's chance in hell that I wouldn't give my life for the Guard if I could. We're graduating. You're one step closer to your father's achievements." The huge, domed auditorium was now in sight. "Keep your cool for as long as the graduation ceremony takes, alright? Zorven's watching." Kaden just added that last part: he knew he could manipulate Alister with false information because they were friends. That, and Kaden was almost always right.

Alister nodded shortly and stiffly.

"Thank you," said Kaden as he parked his speeder. The weather was great. The sun was out, no clouds were visible, and Kaden was easily able to see the surrounding planets. He walked with Alister up the stairs to the auditorium. The building itself rested on a hill, and it was capable of seating ten thousand lombaxes, not including those who were onstage. Kaden opened the swinging doors and walked straight through the middle of them. The pole between the doors, however, had other ideas.

Kaden stopped suddenly, the pole connecting with his head. "Ow," he said, rubbing his forehead gingerly. He heard Alister laughing quietly.

"Slick," he said.

"Shut up, White Bread, and let's go." Kaden picked up a little object that looked like a detonator. These were customary for the graduating lombaxes to use; they buzzed when the lombax holding it was called for. Alister followed suit, then the pair resumed their walk. They turned left, then right, then right again down a dimly lit hallway like those at holo-theaters. There were a few windows, providing them with an overhead view of the audience count. Kaden saw no empty seats. There must be a reason for this large of a crowd. Kaden figured that he and Alister would find out why soon enough. They continued on their way in silence. After a right turn, they saw many Academy cadets just like them. They were just standing there, talking to each other. Kaden consulted his wrist. The time was 0857 hours. The ceremony was supposed to start at 0900. Kaden had three minutes. _Where's Jasmine?_ He asked himself. There were too many lombaxes around; he could not get a clear view of anything. Even Alister had melted into the crowd. Now Kaden was alone without the two people he cared about most. _Perfect job, Kaden,_ he grilled himself. _Now don't screw this up. You've gotta be cool for tonight…_ Kaden felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and looked up into the face of…

"General Zorven?"

The old, war-hardened lombax smiled and patted Kaden's shoulder. "That's my name," he said. "Don't wear it out."

"Don't worry, sir, I won't," replied Kaden.

"All work and no play, Corporal? It's a joke. You're allowed to enjoy yourself whilst graduating."

"I'm kind of wrapped up in the moment. I just lost track of the person whom I'm supposed to drive to their dorm. But I have to ask, General- why are you here, with the cadets? Isn't there some place more prestigious than in a crowd with a bunch of new Agorian fodder?"

Zorven laughed, then said, "You're right, Corporal. Actually, I'm the speaker for the entire ceremony. I'll be calling you to receive your graduation certificate."

"Why haven't they done that in years past?"

"Because I was fighting off Agorian invaders, like that _Road to War_ video game. Yes, I know," he said, as Kaden was going to say something. "I'm not unlike any other lombax. I can enjoy my life, and video games are one way I do just that. I mean, I'm all for the Guard and everything, but…let's just say 24/7 service isn't my thing.

"I wish we could talk more, Corporal, you're an intelligent lombax; but I need to get to the speaker's pulpit right now, or at least-" General Zorven checked his wrist- "-sometime before the next thirty seconds."

"Talk to you later, General," said Kaden, pressing himself against the wall for Zorven to pass through. Zorven took the hint and walked away towards the stage. Kaden relaxed and pulled himself off the wall. He watched Zorven part the crowd with his very presence, and he heard a voice behind him.

"Kaden! Where've you been? I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Kaden turned around to see Alister.

"Where've _I_ been? You disappeared the second we walked into the crowd!"

"Okay, now I'm confused."

Kaden smiled. "Don't worry about it, Alister. We're here, and we know where the other guy is. Now, let's graduate."

Zorven's voice now boomed on the stage. Kaden couldn't hear what he was saying, but it was probably some sort of introductory speech. Kaden looked over at Alister. "Have you gone a darker red?" he asked his friend.

"How would I know the answer to that question? I can't see my face, can I?"

Kaden knew Alister was annoyed, so he let the conversation go. The crowd of lombaxes moved up a small amount of space, Kaden and Alister following. "They must be calling the names," said Kaden. He turned around. Alister was gone. "Alister?" he called out. _Where did he go?_ thought Kaden. Then he remembered. _Ah, his last name starts with "A-z." He's one of the first lombaxes to graduate because of his name._ _Makes sense._ And so the pattern repeated. The crowd thinned gradually. Lombaxes walked towards the stage. Kaden felt like it was taking hours for the passing between each lombax's moment of pride. Finally, he felt a buzz in his pocket, signaling him to walk up and get his reward for the past five years of hard work. He made his way through the small crowd of lombax cadets still waiting for their buzzers and walked out on the stage.

The lights were the first things he felt. He could imagine performing for two hours under this kind of heat. He'd probably sweat himself to death; that is, if the brightness of the light didn't turn his eyes to eye sockets first. The stage was maybe fifteen feet in diameter, but to Kaden, it felt like fifty. The crowded mass was clapping and roaring at the mention of Kaden's name; he was well-known for being the brightest teenage lombax in the Omniverse. Zorven looked at him, not taking his eyes off for even a second. The general was smiling, paper in hand. Kaden finally got to him. He shook Zorven's hand, and the general gave Kaden his certificate. As he did, he whispered.

"Amazing job with the simulator, son. I'd be proud to fight alongside you any day."

"Thank you, General," said Kaden. With that, he walked offstage. He almost fainted while he was making his way to the door. Kaden thought his nervousness might be showing. He opened the door and walked into a smaller sea of lombaxes than he had seen at the other end of the auditorium. Alister's was the first face he saw. Alister saw Kaden, as well.

"Kaden! How'd it go?"

"It was rather nerve-wracking," he said flatly. "I walked, got the certificate, got a compliment from Zorven, and walked in here."

"What did he say?" asked Alister eagerly.

"He said, 'I'd be proud to fight alongside you any day.'"

"Kaden, you are the man! To actually hear that with your own ears, Zorven saying he'd be your right-hand man whenever you need somebody, that's extremely rare!"

"Yeah, great," said Kaden. "Have you seen Jasmine?"

"No, not since last night when I saw her across the bar at that arcade place on the other side of campus. Not drunk, you understand," he added hurriedly, "neither of us. We didn't have anything embarrassing happen. I'd put away a shot of a Black Lumos, but nothing major."

"I didn't know there was a bar...or that you were legally able to drink. How old are you?"

"Nearly 22. I was 18 when I started."

"Huh. I thought you were 17."

"Nope. And how have you not heard about that place? It's like everything there is virtual-reality. You have to run in place, turn around three sixty degrees, raise your 30-pound gun to aim, just like real life."

"Sounds interesting. Well, I have somewhere to be," said Kaden. "Come with me, I need to give you a ride back to your dorm. We have to clean out, cause we get to go home to our families tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah," replied Alister, "and for the next week. Sure you don't want to stay at my dorm? I got drinks."

"It's your business if you get buzzed, Alister," said Kaden as they climbed into his transport. "I, however, despise the taste of any alcohol entirely."

"Well, you can't say the same about smoking. I've seen you light up a few times."

"Yeah, because they're medical supplements." Kaden started driving. "Plus, I like the feel of a cigarette between your fingers, taking a bit of that stuff once in a while."

"Medical supplements," scoffed Alister. "What's next? Fruity flavors?" he teased.

"Hey, I did that with my nute tubes."

"Your what?"

"Nutrient tubes, or nute tubes for short. Apparently, you don't speak nerd."

"It just sort of sounded like it went with a male enhancement supplement, is all I'm saying."

Kaden gave a trio of high-pitched, sarcastic laughs. "Alister, you are extremely…" He was going to finish his sentence, but Alister yelled-

"TURN RIGHT!"

Kaden jerked his speeder to the right. The two friends missed another speeder by micrometers. Kaden panted, calming himself. He started to say something. "You little sonuva…" He sighed in frustration. The next few minutes of navigating seemed like it took forever. Alister stayed silent, but his mere aura just angered Kaden. The driver they had almost hit was probably feeling the same way right now. Finally, they reached their dorms. Kaden parked in his reserved spot, then jumped out of his speeder, using only his widespread legs to do a complete three hundred and sixty degree turn in the air, then landing without a scratch.

"Come on, Alister. Let's get packing. One week isn't much of a summer vacation. Plus, you can just stay at my place if you want." It was true: Kaden had recently purchased a piece of property he could call home. He had to work quite a lot, but he eventually strengthened Axiom City's defense grid by over seven thousand percent. _Of course, it was still "The Weakest Planet in the Galaxy" or whatever that stupid award was called,_ thought Kaden. Without waiting for his friend's response to his invitation, Kaden walked into the dorms, past Edan's room (where he heard _Forever Forsaken_ by _Tetramite Death Sentence_ playing full blast), and walked up the stairs to his dorm. Within the hour, this would be as barren as it had been when he first walked into it when he was a Shiny. The Guard had quite an odd way of distinguishing the ranks whilst on campus. Shinies were the newest recruits. Their nicknames came from their appearance: shiny. They had never battled in a simulation before, they had never tried to invent something new, and they certainly hadn't had a crazed lombax yelling at them and telling them what to do…unless, of course, they had been in Kaden's ninth grade Intergalactic Fit Fighters class. That year was the worst of his life. Of course, he was the only lombax there who could bench press five times his own body weight. Well, he got it off the bar, then he blacked out and woke up in the hospital two days later. Eventually, he was released with no complications. After reminiscing, Kaden started to gather everything around the room and sort it on his bed. _No time to waste…_

* * *

><p>Kaden sighed. Finally, after an hour of tussling all of his stuff into his bags (the VG9800 alone took up a whole bag), he had gotten everything in travel-worthy shape. Four bags might take two trips…But he'd try anyway. Kaden rearranged the bags, trying everything he could think of, until he thought he had found a solution. One bag in each hand and one bag between his arms and sides seemed to do the trick. Kaden walked carefully and precariously down the stairs of his dorm building, almost falling over a few times. He staggered out the door, trying to regain control of his feet. Finally he got to his speeder, where he put his bags one by one into the back seat with extreme difficulty. After he got his load into his speeder, he jumped into the driver's seat. He pushed a button, and a female voice came from the vehicle.<p>

_"Who do you wish to contact?"_ it asked him.

"Alister Azimuth," Kaden replied.

_"Contacting Alister Azimuth,"_ the feminine voice said. After a few seconds of complete silence, Alister's head popped up on the screen that separated driver from passenger.

_"Yeah, what is it?"_ asked Alister.

"Sure you don't want to just come over to my house for the week? VG9800, drinks, holovision- top of the line military VR simulation under the building. Can you turn that down?"

_"I think I can,"_ came the reply. _"If I take you up, my mom's gonna kill me, or at the very least, scream at me about how important it is to keep our tie strong, especially since…"_

"…your dad went M.I.A., presumed dead on a top-secret mission," Kaden finished; he was used to having to finish that particular phrase, since Alister had taken the news painfully when he first heard it. "Alright, it's up to you. I had plans for tonight anyway. Just whenever you want to practice your _Road to War_ expertise, or just need to recover from a bad hangover, I'll let you in."

_"Appreciated. That all you called about?"_

"Yep. See you next week, maybe sooner." With that, Kaden pressed a little red button and he ended the transmission. He pressed another button, and the A.I. promptly replied.

_"Please specify destination,"_ it said.

"Home," stated Kaden. Immediately, he was parked in front of his recently purchased home. It was a domed, two-story building, with a solitary bullet-shaped window on top: a skylight. It was a light metallic gray on the second story, and a darker gray on the ground floor. Of course, he had to buy the house in the middle of nowhere. He had already taken the liberty of moving everything out of his dorm that he couldn't keep at the academy and storing them here. Of course, he kept the VG9800 at the dorm; that thing was too darn fun. His personal weapons, however, he had to leave behind. That rule alone probably lightened his load by at least fifteen percent. Kaden got out of his car, removed his bags from the backseat the same way he did before, and walked towards his new home. Of course, when he got there, he had no means of unlocking the door with a key. Luckily, he had a voice key, an automated system that analyzed the speaker's voice and determined if the speaker was in the list of people allowed to enter.

_"Name, please,"_ it said.

"Kaden," he replied. A confirmation beep sounded, and the door slid open. Kaden walked in, and he took a good look around the place. It wasn't luxury, but it was home. The place was colored a light brown. There were two doorways to choose from: the door to the left led to the viewing room with the large holovision, and the door to the right led to the kitchen. Kaden couldn't really cook right now, with all of his possessions under his arms, and the couch in the other room looked much more appealing to him after all the events that had happened. He walked over to it and put his bags there, leaving some space for himself of course. He needed to take a small rest. He sat down, closed his eyes in front of the dormant holovision, and was asleep in seconds.

Kaden woke to the sound of knocking. He jumped up. _Aw, crap._ He was still in his tuxedo, complete with beret. He ripped the accessory off his head and threw it on the couch; he looked better without it anyway. He walked to the door. Whoever was there was still knocking. Kaden turned the handle, opened it, and was almost squeezed to death by Jasmine.

"Hey there, Kaden!" she said happily.

"Hey, Jasmine," Kaden replied. "Wow, you look great!" he added, seeing her dress. Jasmine had put on a teal blue dress, bringing out her violet eyes. Kaden felt stupid in a plain black-and-white tuxedo next to his beautiful girlfriend. He was hypnotized by her looks, and felt that even though he loved her, it was wrong for her to be in love with such a simple guy. _She deserves a better lombax when she's walking around in that dress,_ he thought to himself. _Hopefully, she doesn't feel that way, because I really love her. I couldn't stand it if she went off with someone else…_

"Eyes front, soldier," she teased, looking into his eyes. "So, where to?"

"I have a reservation at a local restaurant. But we have…" he looked at his holo-watch. "…about ten minutes before we need to be there. Do you want to do anything before we go get munchies? I've got a music creation program on my HPC."

"Well, I heard you play acoustic," she said, eyeing the guitar he had left in view of anyone at the doorstep. "Would you play for me?"

"Uhh…Sure," said Kaden, shaking his head quickly from side to side, recovering from his unintelligible stutter in front of such a beautiful girl. He walked with her over to where he had fallen asleep. She sat down as he walked to the corner of the room and removed the instrument from its holding stock. He sat down on the couch, putting a bag on the floor, making room for him to do so. He cleared his throat and started to tune the strings. He looked at Jasmine, who had closed her eyes and lain her head back on the couch. "Uhhh…you OK?" he asked her.

"I'm fine," she said. "Just resting. I like to listen with my eyes closed, it gives me a much better feel for the music."

"Hope nobody plays while you're driving, just gonna say that much."

"My speeder's an old lemon that my dad repetitively and hopelessly tries to restore. It doesn't even have a LyriCarrier."

"Your father may want to have me take a look at it. Show him that I'm not just another guy trying to get his daughter," said Kaden, still tuning guitar. As soon as he said it, he realized how it sounded. "Not that I _am_ just another guy you to trying get…I mean…get you to…ah…" He stopped his stuttering so she could put her hand on his cheek.

"Don't fret about it, Kaden," she said softly. "I know what you mean." She pecked his cheek.

"Right," said Kaden, clearly fazed. "Here goes nothing." He slid his fingers up and down the neck of the guitar, his restless hands trying to find a chord to begin with. He kept this going for a few seconds until he finally settled on the G chord. He strummed it once, just to double-check that it was tuned, and started playing. The minute he decided to switch from the G chord, he had no idea what he was going to play. Immediately, he switched from G to his next chord, which sounded pleasant, even though he had no idea which chord it was. Then he thought to himself, _Huh. I guess I'm good at improvising. Let's improvise for the whole thing._

He didn't even think about his finger position, his four-beat count, or his strumming; he just let everything flow naturally as it came to him. The resulting product was a torrent of beautiful sounds. It even sounded like a love song that played in the background of the holofilm. Kaden smiled, and ended on the G chord after a few minutes of creativity.

"That was really good, Kaden," said Jasmine, smiling back at him. "What song was that?"

"Ummm…" Kaden thought about it for a second, before replying, "Actually, that was completely random with no forethought, and apparently, it worked a lot better than I thought it would."

Jasmine giggled. "Of course, Mister Hotshot," she teased him. "When do we need to be at that restaurant?"

Kaden peeked at his holo-watch once again. "We need to be there about four minutes ago. Jeez. Time really flies, doesn't it, Jasmine?" He looked up, but Jasmine wasn't where she had been moments ago.

"Hey, Jaz? You okay? Where are you?" he called out. His front door opened, and Jasmine's head popped out.

"I'm waiting for you, K," she said.

"Alright, yeah," said Kaden. "Just, uh, I need to go get something. Be back in a quickie."

"A _what_?" asked Jasmine, giggling again.

"I said 'I'll be back,'" said Kaden.

"Okay, pretty boy. Don't take too long," came Jasmine's reply. She closed the door. Kaden started walking up the stairs to the second floor, located to the right of the couch. As he ascended the stairs, he cursed himself mentally.

_You stupid idiot! 'A friggin' quickie?!" You have the love of your life right in front of you and you say 'Be back in a quickie?' Stick a stamp on my head and mail me to Loserville!_

After climbing the stairs, he made a right; this is where the master bedroom resided, and of course, where Kaden slept. He opened the door and walked in. He had a king size bed, of which half was occupied by him when he slept. He had a 32-inch plasma TV in front of his bed, and it stood on top of Kaden's dresser. It had a DVR and an old, vintage VG900 plugged into it from when he was seven years old. To the left of his bed, he had a square, wooden table with a drawer in it. He walked over to it. This wasn't any old drawer. It had some very special contents that Kaden wanted for his possession and his possession only, not to mention that it was completely bombproof, bullet proof, and everything else proof. He placed his finger on the right side of it, which promptly scanned his finger. _"Identification, please,"_ it said.

"Kaden," he replied.

_"Access granted,"_ the drawer responded, and it popped open automatically with the help of hydraulic cylinders in the cabinet. He had two items residing in it: his father's old SRW-2 energy sidearm, and a little black box containing what was probably the most important thing to him right now. He took it, put it in the inside pocket of his tuxedo (still looking as sharp-dressed as ever), and walked back down the stairs, out of the door, and into his speeder, where his girlfriend was waiting patiently and eagerly for him.

"So, how fast are we going to have to go to get there on time?" asked Jasmine.

"I never knew you were a speed demon," Kaden remarked.

"That's cause _you're_ the daredevil most of the time," she said.

"Well, we're not going to have to drive down there. I've installed a little gadget that will teleport us, speeder and all, into a reserved parking space. Are you ready?" Jasmine nodded in reply.

"Okay, then," he said, and turned his head to a panel of buttons. He pressed the same red button he had used hours ago.

_"Please specify destination,"_ said the A.I.

"Estrano's," said Kaden. The minute he said it, they were in a new setting. Perfectly centered, they had parked in front of a fancy-looking restaurant. Kaden opened his door and walked around the speeder to Jasmine's door, which he opened in order for her to step out.

"That wasn't fun at all," she said.

"Well, would you rather have an adrenaline rush, or would you rather live?" asked Kaden. "If I'm the driver, _never_ tell me to step on it, because I might make us roadkill."

"Well, then, will you take my hand and escort me to the rendezvous?" she said.

Kaden took her hand softly, interlacing their fingers. "You don't have to ask again," he said. With that, they headed toward the restaurant, hand in hand.

* * *

><p><em>Forty-five minutes later…<em>

Kaden sat next to his love, watching the sun set. At first, he thought his balcony would just be for clay shooting. Why that was legal, he had no idea, but he wasn't complaining. Apparently, the balcony served as a great view, as well. He sat and looked at the orange suns painting the clouds in vibrant reds and pinks. Jasmine had put her head on his shoulder as they sat there, leaning over slightly. As Kaden sat there, he realized he still had the black box that had caused them to be slightly later than they would have been. Oh well. He hadn't needed it at dinner, and besides, this version of things was much better.

"I never knew you could eat like a civilized being," said Jasmine.

"That binge-eating contest will forever haunt me, won't it?" Kaden asked her rhetorically.

"Not if you regularly eat your food like I just saw you eat minutes ago."

Kaden gave a chuckle through his nose. He thought about doing it now. Was it too early in the conversation? His worries were relieved somewhat when Jasmine started talking again.

"The sunset's beautiful, isn't it?"

"It is. Reminds me of you, Jaz," said Kaden.

"Awww," said Jasmine. Kaden squeezed her gently between his arm and his body. _Now,_ he thought. _It has to be now._ "Could you sit up straight for a quick second?" he asked Jasmine.

"Sure," she replied, and did so.

"Awesome. Now, close your eyes and keep them closed."

"Okay…" asked Jasmine, her sentence trailing off uncertainly.

"I want you to picture a drop of water falling into a clear blue lake. Can you do that?"

"Yes," said Jasmine.

"Alright. Now, have the drop contact the surface of the lake. The reacting fountain of water reaching back up into the air is breathtaking, isn't it?" said Kaden as he slowly started to crouch in front of the oblivious Jasmine, taking out his box. "Pay attention to the outermost ripples that came from the first moments of contact. See how they've almost completely gone away?" Kaden felt his right knee touching the ground and stopped his descent. "That's because the lake is so much bigger than the small droplet of water.

"Okay, you can open your eyes again."

Jasmine opened her eyes and looked at Kaden. When she saw him she gasped, cupping her hand over her mouth.

Kaden was down on one knee, and he had opened his black box, which contained a gold ring with emerald studs on a velvet-colored pillow.

"I just made an analogy of our relationship and love. That lake is my love for you. And I figure, if there ever was a 'better time' to ask it, it's now. So I ask you now…" Kaden paused, not for effect, but for time to form the right sentence.

"Jasmine, will you marry me?" he said, hoping it sounded better to her than it did to him. He could see tears start to form in her eyes. His heart pounded in his chest. Could this be the one thing that destroyed their relationship forever? Could he have screwed everything up just by proposing too early? Jasmine covered her lower face with both hands on each side of her face. Kaden was hoping that she would say something, give just the slightest hint to her response. She wiped her tears away, placed both of her hands on her chest, and, choked up, said-

"I will."

Kaden felt a wave of relief and inexplicable happiness rush over him. Jasmine held her hand out, and as he slipped the ring over her finger, he himself felt a bit choked up. He made sure she didn't see this by standing up and hugging her. He felt her weak, shaky hands close over his back, and they stood there together for a very long time.

* * *

><p><strong>LPG Uniform: Dress code sucks, right? Well, being sharply dressed was never a con.<strong>

**The Buzzers: Great way to get someone's attention and piss them off at the same time. Too many people in too short a time period for them to be single-file and in alphabetical order. Plus, without the chaos and confusion, it makes the story so much more boring. **

**Transportation and Contact - Lombaxes can't have cell phones! That would be way too boring! So give them access to wristwatch communicators and holograms...you know, something a race much more technologically advanced than humans would have. The same works for a teleportation device installed on a sexy speeder, It completely defeats the purpose, but who really wants to go on a 7-hour road trip in a minivan? The teleport comes into play at times when you don't want to waste time on the road, or if you want to get a bunch of stuff from one place to another in a relatively short window of time.**

**LyriCarrier - The LyriCarrier is basically the Lombax version of a personalized radio station, like Pandora Radio and such. term "lemon" is for the speeder that belongs to Jasmine's dad, just for the readers who are into mechanics.**

**Kaden's SRW-2 - Bringing in the X-15 from _The Lost Race _was tempting, but the SRW is much easier to use as an acronym. It stands for "Securely-Ranged Weapon." Basically, its range is enough to keep you safe in any situation. The 2 means second generation; the company is on its seventh modification at the time _K&TGW_ takes place.**

**Nonexistent Dinner Scene - Here's the problem with a dinner love scene. You have to make sure that the characters are eating in between their lines, and sometimes you can write yourself into six corners at once. And on top of that, you have to make sure everybody else is egging on the girl when the guy proposes. This chapter was originally going to give Kaden the thrill of proposal over dinner at Estrano's but it was decided against . And anyway, the whole thing seemed like it would be much better during a romantic sunset. Oh, and for symbolic readers, the cabinet really comes into play after Tachyon's first attack.**

**Kaden's Analogy - It's better than a crappy pick-up line like, "Do you have an oxygen tank? Cause you take my breath away!" Or maybe, "Did you get those jeans on discount? Cause they look like they should be 100 percent off!" Kaden wouldn't stoop that low in front of Jasmine. But he might do it for Alister, given the right amount of bolts.**


	4. Ch 4- Homeland Security

"I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." –Albert Einstein

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

**Homeland Security**

"Atten-_shun_!"

Kaden stood tall and straight. He had decided to take Alister's advice and try out for the Guard's hoverboot team, now that recent events had brightened his life. He didn't recognize anybody on the team, but they all had different builds: strong and able to take a beating; lean and extremely agile; some were in between and possessed both the endurance and strength to be placed wherever they wanted to be; and some of them looked like they had no idea what the hell they were doing. Their coach, a sergeant, paced up and down the line the players had made.

"All right, ladies," said the sergeant authoritatively. "I'm your hoverball coach for the season, which means you'd better be prepared to go through the jaws of death during our conditioning sessions."

"Sir," asked one of the players foreign to hoverball, "isn't the actual term 'practice'?"

"Not in this cesspool, it's not," said the sergeant. "And from now on, you would do yourself a favor by shutting your mouth before you say something. Is that understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" said the player.

"Now, if there are no further questions, let's talk about what we'll be doing today."

_We'll be listening to a power-hungry coach pretending to be a general,_ thought Kaden.

"From now on, you will address me as 'Sergeant,' 'Sarge,' or 'Sir.' Not 'Coach.' Is that understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" shouted the team in unison.

"Good," said the sergeant. "Now, let's see what kind of a team we have." With this, he pulled out a clipboard, and started describing players as he walked down the line once again.

"We've got a surprising number of rooks," he said, looking at the younger soldiers. "Some of you will barely get by as a benchwarmer, some of you might exceed my expectations, but most of you will fail outright on the first day of elimination." He turned the pages of the clipboard. "Now we have the second-years. You've been seasoned with the Guard's spices. Let's hope that that fact can get you a position on this year's team. I remember what happened last year with Mark." Some groaning came from the rest of the players surrounding Kaden. Clearly, this Mark guy must have gotten in a very bad accident on the field. He knew how Mark must have felt. Hoverball injuries are extremely painful, and Kaden had had more than his fair share of hoverball wipeouts to speak from experience.

"We don't have any players other than that, except for this year's graduating class. Now, some of you are returning veterans, and some of you are new. Most of you are corporals, but some of you…" He stopped, looked at Kaden, and then turned his head back to the clipboard and resumed walking down the line, saying clearly, "Some of you might survive your first field assignment." Kaden smirked on the left side of his face so that the sergeant couldn't see Kaden laughing at him. Clearly, he didn't like the fact that Kaden was the same rank as him.

"Now, listen up," said the sergeant, returning to the middle of the line. "This isn't a drill from the Guard, but this will be a hell of a nightmare if you don't use your head. We'll have you guys run this course and have you show off a little. Take advantage of your surroundings and your specific perks. At the end of the course, after every soldier has completed it, you'll find out if you made the cut. Oh, and one more thing," he added. "You're going solo." Kaden snorted through his nose quietly, trying to avoid detection. He wasn't so lucky.

"The hell are you laughing at, soldier?" said the sergeant.

"Oh, I was just wondering why you said 'going solo' like it was a curveball in the way of hoverball tryouts. It's a team game and all, but you don't exactly have a legion of hoverball players to pass the ball around with when you're trying out."

"Okay, then, wise-ass," said the sergeant. "Let's see how you fare on your own." He whipped out a stopwatch. "On my whistle." Kaden's adrenaline rushed through his veins. He knew he was shoo-in for the team, but he felt like he owed Alister the satisfaction of not seeing him in a medical brace.

* * *

><p><em>I yelled out to Alister again.<em>

_"Would you hurry up already?" I said, hovering above the ground. I wondered how somebody with hoverboots could go as slow as he was going. As he came closer, I could see that he was walking on his own two feet._

_"What is your problem?" I asked._

_"The Vullards could be here. You know…Torren IV, space junk, mining…" he replied while he rotated arms with his hands in front of him, like he was trying to connect the dots for me._

_"Oh, calm yourself, Alister. They've abandoned house for the evening. Way too dangerous what with all of the Tetramites and blood flies and other hidden nasties for them to keep going at this hour." I looked around the caves. Everything was great. Of course, there was a huge chasm between us and where we wanted to go. I looked down at the bottom and saw a crank._

_"Alister, hand me a flare," I said. He obliged and put it in my hand. Jumped down, aiming for the water. The moment before I made contact with the ground, I bent my knees and prepared to roll. I made a nice, easy landing and stood up soaking wet. I lit my flare and looked around. How convenient. There was a Breegus plant growing in the water. I turned around, holding the flare in front of me. There! A live Tetramite nest. I thought of Edan. Cute. The little buggers were clawing and biting at me from beyond the water._

_"Kaden? Are you good down there?" I heard Alister call out uncertainly._

_"I'm fine. But we've got some nasty-ass Tetramites down here. I have a Breegus plant, but no way to get any nectar. Guess it's time to test my nanoskeleton." I put my hand to the plant, absorbing the nectar through nanomites enhancing my abilities._

_"Your nano-what?" said Alister disbelievingly._

_"Pay attention, Alister." He could be so clueless sometimes. I brought my hand out in front of me and fired a nice, round ball of Breegus nectar for the Tetramites to sink their teeth into. They all ran away, scrambling for a treat. I seized my chance and ran to the bolt crank. I holstered the flare and grabbed my wrench, throwing it on the bolt. I pulled my wrench to the left, then repeated. Finally, after taking my wrench off the bolt, the crank spun back into its starting position. I looked over at the Tetramites. They had almost eaten their snack. I needed more bait. I shot another Breegus ball at them. They were intent on obliterating their first helping of gluttony, it seemed: they weren't going for the fresh, new mound of sweet-tooth heaven. I had to find a way out of here. Perfect! One of those bouncy plants! I used my nanoskeleton to draw water, and I fired at the plant. It grew and grew until it was bouncy enough to send me a fair distance. I jumped, landed on it, and threw myself into the air on a parabolic arc back to Alister. I couldn't help doing some acrobatics while I was coming back up. It was like an overpowered trampoline._

_"Cute," said Alister. "Deeper into the jaws of death, then?"_

_"Aw, you make it sound so bad. Let's go." I started my hoverboots and sped towards a wall, just to show the scaredy-Alister he didn't need to worry. I did some pretty cool stunts. However, when I came out of a double gainer, I had too much weight on one hoverboot. I flipped head over heels and grinded to a halt. My vision was blurry and my arm was screaming in pain. I looked to see Alister standing over me._

_"Are you okay?" he asked. I decided to have fun with him. I sat up suddenly and pointed a finger at an invisible lombax._

_"Soldier!" I barked. "You're out of dress code," I said, pretending my voice was getting fainter with each word. "Put some pants on." Then I turned to Alister and looked him in the eye. "Grandma? Is it cookie time?" His face was so worried I found it was almost impossible to keep up the act without letting him in on the secret by laughing._

_"Kaden? Kaden?! How many fingers am I holding up?" He threw three fingers in the air._

_"Chicken? I like chicken. Can we stop for chicken, Dad?"_

_"Do you know who I am?"_

_"Zorven?" I finally gave him a hint._

_"Goddamn you, Kaden," he said, slugging me on the shoulder while I laughed._

_"I'm fine. I'm just glad you hit the shoulder _opposite_ my sprained arm."_

_"Your _what_?" said Alister._

_"Don't worry. My nanosuit will take care of it. I made it myself." I felt the little Nanotech modules unloading their medicine on my arm. It was healed in a matter of seconds._

_"Kaden, let's get out of here. I've had enough excitement for one night."_

_"Fine, Alister," I said in a teasing voice. "How selfish of me. Let's do all the things that _you_ want to do."_

* * *

><p>Kaden didn't want to have Alister kill him. Of course, if he screwed up now, he'd be dead anyway.<p>

"Lots of luck, smart-ass," said the sergeant. The whistle blew. Kaden took off, boosting his speed immediately. The first ramp launched him into a few blue "X" pads that he would have to use to get to the next part of the course. He did a gainer between the transition of the first and second pads, a double backflip between the second and third, and finally, a twisting front flip onto the ground below. Up next was his old favorite: the twist-and-go. He attached his wrench to the bolt coming out of the ground and steered it towards the next ramp. He let go, and accelerated at breakneck speed through the air, once again impressing the rookies with his skills.

Up next was an obstacle course, it seemed. Although it was about five or seven feet in width, Kaden didn't break a sweat. He had pretty much nothing to worry about. Dodging huge objects at 200 km/h was his specialty. He took some easy turns to the left and right, trying with almost no difficulty to avoid being pancaked by Newton's First. Unfortunately, one of the explosive crate stacks had fallen over and were lining the end of the obstacle section, some stacked up against a wall. After that, the course was just a chasm, except for the glowing green ball offering one tiny hint at salvation. Kaden had an idea. He landed on one of the fallen crates facing the right side of the course. He deactivated his hoverboots; he knew their flame would ignite the highly reactive T-4 in the crates, and his flyboy antics, not to mention his career, would be stopped in no time flat. He sprang off the crate, bringing his right leg around in what seemed like a judo kick. His body followed the twist, making it look even more awesome as the crates exploded a mere ten feet behind him. The shockwave threw him farther and gave him more propulsion, and he used this to his advantage, spreading his arms and legs Da Vinci style. He threw his hand out, and a green energy tether connected with the spinning ball. As he came closer to the bridge between his body and the ball, he was swung as if from a pendulum, continuing in his original direction of motion, then making a wide U-turn and coming back towards the start, where all of the cadets looked worried for his health. Clearly, the sergeant could care less. Kaden broke the connection between the ball and his hand, and he activated his hoverboots again, gliding down back to the rest of the cadets. Whooping and cheering was plentiful.

"Not bad, smart-ass," said the sergeant. "I've seen better, but that wasn't bad."

Kaden cracked a smile.

* * *

><p>"Congrats, dude. I gotta hand it to you. Sergeant By-the-Book threw everything he had at you, and you still kicked that course into orbit." Alister verbally patted Kaden on the back as they traveled back to their dorms.<p>

"Please. If there's anything I know how to do, it's hoverboot. Now I just have to factor in a lightbulb-sized ball and I'll be great," Kaden said.

"Yeah, as long as you don't go looney again and start making goals for the wrong team," Alister teased as he drove.

"Well, let's pray that doesn't happen, right?" Kaden chuckled.

"What's with the box?" Alister changed the subject.

"Oh, I figured I'd give Jasmine something before we get married. It's a nice thing to do."

"Aaahhhh," said Alister as if he had just solved a crime. "You're tryin' to…" He flipped his right arm over so his palms were facing up, then made a fist and pulled it towards him.

"No, I'm not trying to…" Kaden mimicked Alister's movement. "It's something couples do, and-" he cut himself off. "Alister, pull over," he said in a serious voice.

"What's going on?" asked Alister.

"Just pull over," said Kaden. Alister did so, and parked their speeder on the side of the road. Kaden got out of the speeder. He looked up.

"Kaden, what the hell's gotten into you?" he heard Alister say.

"Dropships. Infantry. Battle cruisers." He turned to Alister, his face full of fear and his breath heavy. "The Cragmites are making their move, trying to assault the Prateorian Academy.

"We're being invaded."

Kaden looked up at the Cragmite fleet. They had almost completely blocked out the sky, and dark shadows fell over everything in view. Kaden quickly put his wrist out in front of him as if he was checking his watch, and tapped his wrist a few times in strategic places. "_Contacting General Kraid Zorven. Please stand by."_

"Really, Kaden?" said Alister disbelievingly. "_That's_ the best you can do? Ask Zorven and then 'everything is gonna be alright?'"

"Shut up and let me think," said Kaden. "Zorven takes a liking to me. That other generals would probably think I'm crying wolf. Zorven's more likely to believe me." Kaden finished just as Zorven answered.

_"Sergeant! What a surprise!"_ said Zorven. He was at his desk, most likely finishing up paperwork. _"To what do I owe the pleasure?"_

"Well, sir," said Kaden, "I think you'd better see for yourself." Kaden turned his wrist to the now ship-laden atmosphere of Fastoon. He heard the general speak._ "Holy crap…"_ Kaden pulled his wrist back in front of his face.

"What do we do, general?" he asked.

_"There's only one thing we _can _do,"_ the general said with a serious face. _"I'll spread the word. We're going PLANDEF 1. Get your ass back here ASAP. We'll need all available units to repel the attack."_

"Roger that, sir," said Kaden. "We're on- oh boy," he said, looking to the sky. One of the Cragmite dropships had taken interest in the two figures next to a vehicle in the middle of a desert on the side of the road.

"Sir, etch that," said Kaden, jumping into the speeder. "Bogeys in pursuit. We'll have to lose them before rendezvousing at base. We'll lead them right to you!" He started the speeder as Alister hopped in.

_"Sergeant, what the hell are you doing?!"_ yelled Zorven. _"Get back to base pronto! That is an order!"_

"Sorry, sir," said Kaden, his facial features hardened as he stared defiantly at the general. "You're breaking up." He broke the communications video and revved his engine, turning off into the barren desert. He checked his mirror. The Cragmite ship was moving quickly and would be right behind them in no time. Kaden swerved around rocks, trying to get some more time to find a way out of getting blown up. He looked around, trying to locate a large enough rock for his plan to work. He leaned out of the speeder, hand and foot still steering them through the desert, and grabbed a rock at random. It was a rather large rock, about the size of a brick. He put it on the gas pedal and kept his attention on steering.

"Kaden, what's what are you doing?" yelled Alister over the noise.

"Listen!" yelled Kaden. "You see that rock up ahead?" He referenced a large boulder about one hundred meters in front of them. "I'm going to maneuver around it so that we'll be out of the ship's sight for a few seconds! The minute I tell you to, jump out of the speeder and brace yourself for some debris!"

"Are you crazy? What's a rock going to do?" Alister shouted as the boulder drew ever closer.

"No time to talk! Jump! NOW!" Kaden leaped at least one meter in the air, and landed with bent knees, tumbling to a painful halt. He groaned as he hit a large rock with his back. He got up slowly, having to physically push himself up with his hands. He watched as the speeder blew up after it slammed into the side of a cliff.

"Alister!" Kaden yelled. "Alister!" He could only hope that his friend hadn't been engulfed in the explosion. There wasn't enough time to look for the white lombax, however- the Cragmites were coming. Kaden took cover behind the boulder, flattening himself against the side of it. He grunted in pain as a tingling pain briefly shot up his spine. He thought he might have injured his spinal cord, and his nanosuit was taking its sweet time to repair the damage. The Cragmite ship came into view for just a moment, and then turned around, heading back to the rest of its allies. Kaden waited for a few seconds, then pulled himself off of the side of the boulder. He scanned the area around him, looking for any sign of Alister. Finally he noticed a white blob fifty meters away from him. He sprinted towards it, and as he came closer, he saw that it was indeed his friend.

Kaden stood over his friend, then kneeled down. Alister was lying facedown in the dirt. Kaden turned him over. "Alister!" he said. "Hey! Alister!" Alister did not respond. He had a cut on his forehead, and he was bleeding. Kaden smothered Alister's head in nanotech, and the blood cleared away immediately. Kaden picked him up and threw him over his back. Immediately he crumpled to the ground, screaming in pain. His back was on fire, and the tingling pain was spreading throughout his whole body. He knew what had happened; somehow, he had managed to paralyze himself. He heard Alister groan. The white lombax fluttered his eyes open. He looked at Kaden.

"Ka'n..." he mumbled. "Wha' hap'n?" He shook his head and his words became clearer. "Kaden, what's going on?" Kaden wanted badly to respond, but he couldn't. "Kaden?" Alister asked again, more urgently. "Kaden!" he exclaimed. "KADEN!" Kaden felt Alister shake him slightly. Though Alister's intentions were pure, Kaden felt immense pain as he was shaken. He let out a small noise, though he imagined he would probably be screaming if he could move his mouth. Alister took notice of Kaden's whimper. "Kaden, thank Orvus. You're alive," he said. "Are you okay?" When Kaden didn't respond, Alister's pupils dilated.

"Alright," he muttered, more to himself than Kaden. "Paralysis, apply Nanotech to the back and immobilize victim. Like the last part's necessary." He administered the Nanotech, and Kaden felt the tingling sensation ebb away. He lay there for a minute, his chest rising and falling heavily as he gulped in air. He felt his brain regain control of his hands and arms, and he made sure they were working. He sat up and shook his head. Shakily, he rose to his feet, making sure his legs could support him. It seemed as if everything is back to normal. Kaden breathed a sigh of relief.

"Can you walk?" Alister asked him.

"For you, Alister, I could run," Kaden teased.

"Funny, Kaden," said Alister, though his face clearly said otherwise.

"Don't suppose you have your hoverboots on you?" said Kaden.

"Of course I do," said Alister. He started his hoverboots. "What about you? How are you going to get there?"

"Oh, I think I have a way," Kaden said revealing a gadget with a metal grapple protruding from it.

"And what exactly is that?"

"It's a swingshot," said Kaden. "I got it from CALR."

"So you still have that contact at Advanced Lombax Research?"

"Yep. Coby and I go way back, probably about a year or so before I met you," said Kaden matter-of-factly. "He got me this vintage baby after pulling quite a few strings. Of course, I had to pay him in beer, but it's worth it." Suddenly, there was a flash of orange light and a loud explosion coming from Kaden's right side.

"Holy crap!" he yelled. He looked to the right, but the shockwave knocked both lombaxes backward onto the ground. Kaden scrambled to his feet and looked at the disturbance. A skyscraper was burning, smoke curling profusely out into the evening sky, where it was greedily devoured by the shadows of the Cragmite armada. Kaden's instinct took over and he felt a seed of anger flooding his emotions. He felt his ears lay back as his featured hardened again. He bared his teeth. After today, there wouldn't be a crack between two rocks where Kaden wouldn't look for the Cragmites that murdered the innocent lombaxes that would lose their lives today.

"Whoa, Kaden," said Alister warily. "Are you all right?"

"I'm going to make them pay for that." Kaden spat out every word, his voice violently shaking with sensitive rage. He turned to Alister, who was visibly concerned for Kaden's well-being. "I don't care if a cop tries to pull you over for a speeding ticket," Kaden told Alister, looking at him. "You get to the operations base before I do. That's an order."

Alister's face revealed that he didn't know whether or not Kaden was kidding or not. He engaged the accelerator and took off, which prevented Kaden from telling him that he was only making sure he got to the base before Kaden did. Kaden had to hurry, or he risked being discovered by another Cragmite ship. He aimed his swingshot at the nearest cliff edge and fired. The claw-like grapple zipped off into the distance, and for a while, it seemed that nothing had happened. Suddenly, Kaden was jerked toward the cliff at an incline; it felt to him as if an excited, invisible child was dragging him along to look at the newest toy in the store. He knew he was going to hit the cliff at an unsurvivable force unless he thought of something. Then he had an idea. He drew closer and closer to the wall that could end his life. Meters from death, he reeled in the grapple, sending him flying over the danger zone. He was easily flying three meters above the ground, and he started falling in an arc shape. He bent his knees, bracing himself for impact for the second time in a day. As he felt the ground nearly tear his legs off, he curled up into a ball and rolled, though it was not without consequence, because while he pulled off a fluid transition into a full-blown sprint, he could already feel bruises starting to develop.

He was now running parallel to the city that the Cragmites were about to ravage. He couldn't keep running like this; he needed a swingshot target, and fast. He scanned the terrain as he was running, and he found another large boulder. His hopes elevated by this lucky break, he fired his swingshot at it and felt the cable jerk him off his feet, giving him a large burst of speed. Moments after he felt his feet leave the ground, the Cragmite ship blasted a crater where he had been standing moments ago. The heat on his back was immense. He retracted the claw just before he slammed into the rock, and tumbled once again. He sprang to his feet and found he was two meters from his intended target. Another Cragmite weapon charge blasted over his head; he felt the heat singe his ears. He bolted for his shield, diving to minimize both his profile and his chances of being hit. He flattened his back against the rock as he took a moment to catch his breath before thinking through a plan. After a few seconds of brainstorming and debating, he believed he had the solution. He drew his Constructo Pistol. It was no Negotiator, but if he placed a blast in just the right spot, the Cragmite ship would stall and smash into the Fastoon desert. But just as he was about to take a peek at his enemy, he felt his feet sinking into the ground. Kaden looked down, and he saw that he was indeed being sucked into what appeared to be quicksand. He struggled, giving a few grunts and groans, but it only made things worse. He was quickly buried to his chest. He turned around, and in a last desperate attempt for salvation, he grabbed the face of the boulder. As soon as he grabbed it, he knew it was hopeless. he sank lower and lower, and he could not move. There was no way he would be able to pull himself from death this time. He gave up, allowing his head to submerge, knowing how grisly his hand must have looked from above the ground. Kaden felt a rush of emotion, and his eyes started tearing up as a lump started developing in his throat. _So this is how my life ends…_

Then, suddenly, he was moving at a colossal speed, being thrown every which way as if there was a demon dragging him down by the feet through a dark tunnel that consisted of many twists and turns. Kaden had no idea what was going on. Everything was dark, and though he was literally more than six feet under, he wasn't picking up any excess dirt. By now, any average lombax would be caked with so much dirt they would be unrecognizable. He kept zooming through the ground, amazed and thankful that the pressure from all the dirt wasn't forcing his liver through his skull. Then, without warning, light flooded his eyes. He closed them for a moment, and was about to open them when he started rolling as if he was trying to get comfortable on his bed. He tumbled and tumbled, already feeling a bit sore. FInally, he stopped with his back on the ground and arms spread in an invisible bear hug. He shook his head and groaned as he opened his eye, groggy from the events from the last forty-five seconds. He was in what seemed to be an underground base, judging from the ceiling and the lights. If anything was here, the intense ringing in his ears drowned it out. He turned himself over, and rose shakily to his feet as his ears started clearing out, and he heard a faint snippet of garbled conversations. As he looked around, he saw lombaxes, lots and lots of lombaxes. They were all scuttling around, clearly responding to the Cragmite threat. His ears were clear now, but they were pounded with the artillery of panicked lombaxes.

"We need fighters in the air now!"

"Reports of seven dead, thirteen wounded on the street. Numbers unknown for the First Hope skyscraper."

"We need to roll out the big guns. Have cannons on standby."

Kaden had stumbled right into the middle of a military rush hour. He wished he could disappear before anyone could notice him. Unfortunately, some lombaxes had already stopped what they were doing and started to stare at him. More and more lombaxes took notice of this, and they, too, began to look at the skid mark rookie who couldn't possibly have been granted access to this area. Soon, Kaden had singlehandedly stopped every lombax dead in their tracks. He returned their empty stares, not sure what was going to happen. Finally, a familiar voice broke the silence, though Kaden couldn't exactly say he was happy to hear it.

"SERGEANT!"

_Uh-oh_. Of all the bases Fastoon, Kaden had to get dragged into the one where General Zorven was working. The crowd parted, and Zorven himself appeared, walking toward Kaden quickly and not looking happy at all. Kaden straightened up and stood at attention.

"You disobeyed my order by deviating from this bunker," said Zorven. Suddenly, he laughed and grabbed Kaden's shoulder, shaking it vigorously as he gave a short laugh. "You'll make a great squad leader."

"Sir?" asked Kaden. "I thought that was a court-martial offense."

"Now, I'm not hearing a _complaint_ from the great Sergeant Kaden, am I?" said Zorven in a threatening tone.

"No, sir," said Kaden hastily. "I was only asking a question, sir. Nothing else."

"Curiosity killed the Zoni, Sergeant." Zorven looked around at the gaping lombaxes. "Back to work," he said, and the crowd got busy again. Zorven spoke to Kaden in a low voice. "Now, I couldn't help but notice you said 'we' while I was conversing with you on your communicator. Who was your plus one, and where is he?"  
>"It's Sergeant Azimuth, sir. We split up after the Cragmites attacked that skyscraper. I don't know where he is right now."<p>

"Of course. Sergeant Azimuth, slow on the draw. He's never very quick, is he?"

"Well, with all due respect, sir, he probably doesn't even know where to-" Kaden stopped and turned around. He could hear Alister yelling, but the noise echoed, as if the white lombax was stuck in a tunnel. When he turned, he saw several clear tubes, all bent at a 90 degree angle towards their exits so they ran parallel with the ground. That explained why Kaden was rolling when the light hit his eyes. Now Alister was enjoying the ride. Kaden waited, watching the pipes unwaveringly with Zorven next to him doing the same thing. Alister's voice got closer and closer, until finally, he zoomed out of the pipe in the middle, rolling in the same manner Kaden did. Alister got up, groaning momentarily, then dusting himself off. He looked at Kaden and Zorven, and could tell that they were waiting for him.

"What? I got here as soon as I could," he said, looking at Kaden. "If it weren't for those stray Cragmites, I'd have been here ten minutes earlier."

"What matters is that you're here now, and we need you two to do something," said Zorven. "Ready for your first field assignment?"

Kaden barely believed he had heard Zorven correctly. "Yes, sir," he said without even stopping to think about what he was getting into.

"Sergeant Azimuth, do you second that?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" said Alister in the same manner as Kaden.

"Good," replied Zorven. "Then let's brief you somewhere more private than the rat race, shall we?" He started walking in a straight line, never deviating from his path as all of the hurried lombaxes bustled around them.

"Where are we going, sir?" Kaden finally mustered up the courage to ask.

"My office of sorts they fitted out down here," said Zorven. "Being a general has its perks." Kaden followed the general with Alister to his right. He thought they must have looked like an action movie poster with one guy in the middle and two other men behind him. Zorven stopped in front of a door, and Alister was walking so closely behind him Kaden had to grab Alister's shoulder before he rammed into his idol. Zorven, with adroit dexterity for a lombax his age, rapidly punched an access code into a panel on the wall. The door slid open, revealing a room blocked by the general. Zorven fixed this for Kaden by walking in, and the latter, along with his friend, took it all in. The room was decorated with advanced technology, even for a lombax like Kaden. The desk where he assumed Zorven was usually stationed had voice-activated accessories, most of which were coded into the desk itself. Kaden was impressed. He had never seen anything like it before, and he had seen a lot of crazy things, including compound fractures on a lombax's ear. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see what else was waiting to take his breath away.

"Wow," he said, trying to compensate. Then he decided to compensate so he didn't sound like he had suddenly become less intelligent. "This is technology most lombaxes dream of. I guess it's not just a dream anymore."

"No, it's not, Sergeant," said Zorven as he sat down in the chair behind the desk. "This is the real thing." He stared down at the desktop and started moving various digital objects with his hands. "Now, this assignment may seem like a suicide mission, but I have faith in you two. You're bright sparks."

"Thank you, sir," said Kaden, thinking it was wiser to get on Zorven's good side as opposed to the alternative.

"We've found a weakness in the Cragmite mothership. Its engines are invulnerable to gunfire. If only we could get some extremely powerful explosives on them…" He rubbed his chin and stared at the ceiling in mock cluelessness.

"If we have a big enough gun, sir, we can punch a hole right through them," said Alister.

"That's true. But then you guys would be caught in the explosion," said Zorven. "They'd need to be detonated remotely."

"I have just the thing, I think, sir," said Kaden. He held his hand out, and he nonverbally commanded his nanosuit to generate a block of plastic explosive. A chunk of insta-bomb grew in his hand until it was the size of a bowling ball. Using two hands, as it was obviously quite heavy, he let his friend and his commanding officer gaze at his invention.

"That will get the job done, Sergeant," said Zorven, in awe. "How did you make a bomb out of thin air?"

"I made a nanosuit to improve my performance, General," said Kaden. "I'd be happy to allow an examination of it...provided, of course, that it is conducted by the Center of Advanced Lombax Research and also that I may make use of it on this mission."

"I'd be committing treason if I confiscated it now. We need you two in peak performance." Zorven paused. "Why are you still standing here?" he asked. "Go! You've got a civilization to rescue!"


	5. Ch 5- Negative, Ghostrider!

**Chapter 5**

**Negative, Ghostrider!**

Kaden stood overlooking the city, staring with hardened features at the Cragmite ships now in full attack mode. As they lay waste to the innocent lombaxes beneath them, flames and smoke billowed from almost every building in sight. Kaden could hear sirens of first responders and the Praetorian Guard infantry. Concussive booms of heavy weaponry pounded his ears. He felt something deep inside of him. It was far worse than rage; he couldn't find the words for it. All he knew was that today, he was going to make the Cragmites regret their arrogance. The wind blew lightly, rippling through his fur. He turned to Alister, who was standing next to him and currently looking at the attackers through binoculars. It seemed like an uncomfortable position: staring almost straight up with his back bent slightly. Alister brought them down and looked at Kaden.

"There's an entry spot on the mothership," he said, pointing at it while simultaneously handing Kaden the binoculars. "Right under that ugly-ass turret."

Kaden brought the binoculars to his eyes and looked at the area indicated by Alister. He was right: there was an airlock underneath the ship. But he was also right about the turret. It had twin laser cannons and was decorated with purple spikes. There was no way they would get through that thing if it was functional.

"How convenient that they guard an airlock. I have an idea about how we take that thing," he told Alister, bringing the binoculars down.

"What's your makeshift plan?" Alister asked.

"Well, I have a scrambler," said Kaden, holding out an object that looked like a Shock Ravager. "It's a disruptor. It'll fry the systems, but it won't alert the Cragmites to the issue. I just need some way to get it up there." He put it on his back, and his nanosuit clung onto it.

"Kaden, use your swingshot," said Alister, equipping his own gadget. "Throw the scrambler when you get close enough to the turret. I'll cover you." He loaded a silenced Constructo Pistol and holstered it.

"That's the best idea you've had yet, Alister," said Kaden, taking his friend's advice and sliding his swingshot on his wrist. He wished he had his energy-tether swingshot, but going home to get it wasn't an option. Luckily, he had always carried the older version, or, as he called it, "the dinosaur," just in case he ever needed a backup. He drew aim at the Cragmite ship, and was about to fire when he thought of something. This was way too risky, even by his standards. The wind would throw him off, and his swingshot might catch the turret. There was no way Kaden was going to risk it. _Wait a minute,_ thought Kaden to himself. _I've got a building not too far away. Let's use that!_

"Hey, Alister."

"Yeah?"

"Follow my lead. This might get a little bumpy."

"Why? What are you gonna do?" asked Alister as Kaden paid him no attention. The latter was too busy throwing his hoverboot accelerator all the way forward and forming a course for a head-on collision with the building in front of him. As Kaden felt the wind zipping past him at ridiculous speeds, he steeled his nerves, preparing for the split-second impact that would hopefully get him to his destination. He bent his knees just before he hit the side of the building. As he ricocheted off the wall, barely avoiding breaking his knees, he kicked on the afterburners. He took aim at the airlock with his swingshot and fired the claw. It latched on easily. Of course, the turret had taken notice, and started to swivel around slowly, apparently teasing Kaden before it killed him. Kaden's adrenaline made him nervous. He drew closer and closer the turret as it turned around slowly, trying to atomize him. _Now!_ Kaden panicked and threw the disruptor. It flew end over end, racing towards the turret that was now charging its weapons to fire at him. As Kaden braced himself for death, he heard the disruptor incapacitate the maw of energy with one hundred thousand volts of electricity. Now that he had taken care of the turret, he needed to slow down, or he would be a streak of blood and fur on an airlock. He used his hoverboots to slow himself down, gently coming to a dangling position right under his entry point. He heard Alister's electronically generated voice in his ear.

_"What happened up there? It looks like you poofed up your fur!"_

"I'm completely intact," said Kaden, grabbing his wrench and hitting the vent. "Working on entry now."

_"Roger that. I'll stand by and wait for your go."_

"Copy. Out," Kaden replied. He wasn't getting anywhere with the vent in the way. He took his wrench and started to whack it against the center of the grate. His efforts only put a few dents into the metal, and nothing as far as progress had been made. In a desperate attempt, Kaden slammed the grip of his wrench onto the hinge that was keeping the grate intact with the ship. The grate fell off without a struggle. Kaden breathed a sigh of relief, holstered his wrench, and began to swing his body back and forth, trying to launch himself into the enemy ship. It was a very difficult effort. Every time Kaden threw his body one way, his arm would throb painfully due to the swingshot competing for control of him, briefly cutting off circulation to his hand. His abdominal muscles strained as he acted as a pendulum. For every time he tried, he got a little bit farther. He couldn't keep going like this. He would have to jump now, or risk dislocation of his arm. The next time he swung forward, he detached his swingshot, pulled his legs up, and flew through the air. He straightened his legs and grabbed the lip of material that allowed him to get a grip on the inside of the ship. He pulled one arm up higher and grabbed another flat surface. Now highly encouraged, he threw his other arm onto the same surface, and using the miniscule amount of strength he had left in his abs, pulled himself into the ship. He lay there, panting heavily, feeling his heart pounding against his rib cage. He looked around and found he was in a ventilation shaft. _Alister was wrong. It wasn't an airlock,_he thought to himself as he sat up, his ears being slightly flattened due to the low vertical clearance of the shaft.

_"Kaden! Are you there?"_ Alister asked in a loud voice. Kaden flinched, startled. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "Orvus, man, you gave me a heart attack."

_"Sorry,"_ said Alister sheepishly. _"Are you in the ship yet?"_

"Roger that, you're clear," Kaden replied. "I'll wait for you, buddy. Oh, and you were wrong. It's a vent shaft. So be prepared for some uncomfortable crouching."

_"Copy. Hey, Kaden,"_ asked Alister, panting a little as he spoke (Kaden assumed he was running). _"Why does Zorven try to be a hard-ass, and then when he sees us, he cools it?"_

"If you had a scar where Zorven does, you'd try to be tough, right?"

_"You know I can hear you, Sergeant?"_came Zorven's voice.

_"Aah!"_ Alister cried out in surprise.

"We were just trying to lighten the mood, General," said Kaden, smiling.

_"Just...get the job done, you turkeys,"_ Zorven sighed.

"Yes, sir. Out," Kaden replied. "Alister, you up here yet?" His answer came in the form of the sound of a swingshot making contact with the armor of the ship. _"I just latched on. Heading up now."_Kaden heard the whizzing of a recoiling swingshot in his earpiece. He started fidgeting, trying to keep himself occupied. He checked the charge on his Constructo Pistol. Next, he twirled his wrench in between his fingers. He leaned over the entry, looking for a sign of Alister. For the first few seconds, nothing was there. Suddenly, Kaden saw Alister's boots flying up towards him. He gave a "Jeez!" of surprise and scrambled backwards. Alister flew through the small opening Kaden had given him, and landed, crouching, on his feet. Kaden did the same.

"So what now? Where's the target?" asked Alister from across the opening that lead to a painful impact with the ground.

"Well, we're on opposite sides of the vent. We may as well split up. You get the ones on the right, I'll get the ones on the left?"

"Yeah, probably," said Alister. "But remember, if either of us shows up and the other isn't there, we rendezvous. No blowing up prematurely."

"I have more than half a brain, Alister. I know protocol."

"I just don't want to get blown apart in a Cragmite ship. It wouldn't look good on my resumé."

"That's ironic," said Kaden. "Now can we get this over with?"

"Yes, ma'am," Alister replied, smiling. He turned around, lay on the ground, and started crawling deeper into the ship. Kaden did the same, going the opposite direction. His abdominal muscles started hurting again. Luckily, he didn't have a large load to carry; he felt comfortable with his Constructo pistol instead of a Judicator or some other, larger weapon. As he thought about it, he was glad he wasn't claustrophobic. It wasn't much, but it kept him going. Then he thought of Jasmine. _Oh, damn, oh, God, please let her be alive,_ he thought to himself. The thought of her drove him faster. Left turns, right turns, Kaden didn't care: they made little difference. Love was his fuel, and it was in unlimited supply. He burned through as much of it as he possibly could, feeling burn away his heart and bring tears of emotion to his eyes. A lump formed in his throat, making it momentarily difficult for him to breathe. After what seemed like seconds, Kaden finally found an ending to the bowels of the ship. It was blocked by a grate, but he knew it would be no match for his nanosuit. He drew closer, slowing down just in case he had some unexpected hosts in whichever room he was about to enter. He grabbed two bars of the grate. He pushed with extreme care, his nanosuit putting excessive force into his hands. The whole thing snapped off easily, giving a _chink_sound that resembled a chain-link fence being disturbed. Kaden took a peek outside.

It seemed Kaden had taken the most direct route. Eight Cragmites were spread out in a huge room full of hardware. Computers and control panels were lining the walls of the room, not currently being used. Various storage piles were placed in seemingly random places. A large, spinning platform was generating a gigantic purple beam of energy that was being gobbled up by a gigantic metal sphere. It was glowing with purple energy. Kaden quietly slipped out of the vent and dropped behind the cargo so conveniently placed in front of the grate, his feet barely making a sound.

"Alister," he whispered, "I'm at the target. Do you copy, over?" Kaden waited, but there was no reply. The static of silence filled his ears. "Alister," Kaden repeated, "the engine is in my sights. I say again, the target is in range. Respond." Nothing. The dreaded static buzzed in his ears, rattling his heart. He could only hope that Alister hadn't been captured, or worse.

Kaden started making his way towards the engine. Immediately, he found a problem. He would never make it to the computers before he was noticed and immediately terminated. If only he had somehow figured out how to have his nanosuit turn him invisible, then he may have had a chance. But wait! Kaden remembered he still had access to Edan's LyriCarrier account after the punk had taken his speeder for a joyride. Kaden pulled his radio out of his ear. He started hacking into it, trying to get access to Edan's album collection through the frequency. It didn't take him long to work his way into _Tetramite Death Sentence_'s new album, _Exterminate, Eliminate, Eviscerate_. Kaden cocked his arm back, waited for a few moments, then hurled it into the center of the engine room. Remotely, he prompted it to play. The room was filled with the horrid sounds of double-bass drums, wailing electric guitars, and vocals that seemed to be coming from a foul-mouthed Leviathan. The Cragmites covered their ears in unison.

_"What the hell is that noise?"_ one yelled in its native tongue.

_"It came from that thing!"_ another yelled, pointing its blaster at Kaden's earpiece. It started to shoot randomly. Finally, a lucky shot ended the music, but the damage was done. Kaden had made it to the engine and taken cover behind the side of the platform closest to the wall. He commanded his nanosuit to form his payload, and it created the explosive right in the palm of his hand. Kaden planted it underneath the top of the platform, ensuring no Cragmite could ever see it before it was too late. Without being detected, he slowly got up to a crouching position, then to a standing position as the Cragmites' words masked the sound of his footsteps. Quickly, he walked back to the line of control panels and got down into a prone position. He crawled his way under the desktops, hoping not to attract too much attention. He paid close attention to the Cragmites' dialogue.

_"What was it?"_

_"A communicator. Some lombax wasn't too smart. Now we know there's somebody here."_

_"Well, where would they be, Commander?"_

There was a smacking sound of gun hitting flesh. _"They're HERE, fool! Double the guard!"_ Kaden risked a peek at the eight Cragmites. They were spreading out, and one was heading straight for Kaden, who had no idea what to do. The Cragmite was sure to see him. Instinctively, Kaden shot the Cragmite in the nose. The Cragmite fell down as a flash of purple blood hung suspended in the air for just a moment. Kaden was thankful he had his silencer attached.

_"We're under attack! Shoot to kill!"_yelled the Cragmite commander.

Kaden took another shot at a new target. This Cragmite took a Constructo pistol round straight to the chest, and it fell backwards, dead before it hit the ground. The Cragmites still alive were in chaos, firing blindly at whatever they could. Kaden kept picking them off, one by one. He decided to try his luck, and he climbed out from under the computers to stand up. A Cragmite saw him and took a shot. Kaden saw it coming and jumped out of the way as he returned fire. His enemy fell to the ground his reflexes not as quick as Kaden's. Kaden stood there, panting as he looked at all of the carnage he had created. Quickly, he looked for an exit of some sort. He felt a rush of relief as he found a door across the room and dashed for his salvation. Without thinking, he threw the door ajar and ran out, Constructo Pistol at the ready. Cragmites were running towards him, obviously responding to the blaring sirens that had alerted the entire ship to Kaden's presence.

_"Kill the lombax!"_ one of them yelled. Kaden was forced to dive into the ground, miraculously avoiding every shot they fired at him. He returned the favor, shooting at them and hoping he was hitting his targets. As he hit the ground, he had a clear line of sight in front of him. Only one was still standing, and he was grabbing his leg, screaming in pain. Kaden fired at his chest, and the Cragmite was put out of his misery, laying still on the ground. Kaden jumped over all of the bodies and continued down the ship. He had no idea where he was going, but as long as it eventually led him out of the kill zone, he would keep fighting, no matter the cost. Jasmine came into his thoughts again, and he gained a burst of adrenaline, making him faster. Everything was a blur, just like the way in. As he turned a corner, he slammed into a Cragmite. Both combatants fell to the ground. Kaden kicked his legs up and jumped back into a standing position. The Cragmite was taking a while to get up. Kaden didn't have the time to kill him, and running past the dazed Cragmite seemed like it take a shorter amount of time. Kaden ran, and the Cragmite gave no chase. Now more cautious, Kaden continued his journey through enemy lines, but didn't encounter any resistance. No sooner than he had thought of it, Kaden heard fighting up ahead. _Alister!_ he thought. Kaden figured he must have accidentally wound up in the wrong place. As Kaden entered the next area, he saw it.

He had entered what looked like the bridge. He could tell he made it to the front end of the ship, because the far wall was only made of glass, giving a view of the sieged city. Inside the ship, a horde of Cragmites was firing at something behind a crate. Kaden couldn't see what it was, but he had a good guess. Alister wasn't going to last much longer. The crate was slowly being chipped away by blaster fire. In a desperate attempt to save his friend's life, Kaden shot at a Cragmite. He hit his target, and the Cragmite fell to the ground covered in its own purple blood. The rest of the legion took notice of the new lombax, who was forced to take cover as a torrent of blaster fire rained down on him. Kaden was now the prime target of the Cragmites. He barely poked his blaster out from behind his hide-saving wall and began firing blindly, only able to hope that he was fighting back with lethal accuracy. Suddenly, he heard another Constructo Pistol firing with him. Kaden didn't have his earpiece anymore, but he knew he had one last resort.

"ALISTER!" he yelled. "RUN!" He came out from behind his cover and started firing as fast as he could. Cragmites dropped left and right, falling victim to Kaden's blaster. "NOW!" he shouted. The Cragmites were now taking cover, not wanting to get shot by the maniacal lombax. As he lay down supressive fire, Kaden saw Alister poke his head up, then make a run for it. In the middle of his sprint, he hit the deck, sliding feetfirst towards Kaden, who took cover again as Alister stood up and covered the other side of the doorway.

"What the hell took you so long?" yelled Alister over the noise of blaster fire.

"Sorry! I was busy making sure this piece of junk went down!" Kaden threw back, getting a few rounds off.

"I must have tried to call in backup seven times! Where were you?"

"Fighting off the Cragmite horde!"

"Same here, if you haven't noticed!"

"Well, we seem to have the technique down!"

"Damn straight!" Alister looked at his gun, then back at Kaden. "Any ideas on how to get out of here?"

Kaden mimicked Alister. He ran his tongue along the backs of his lower teeth and exhaled sharply. "I do! But it's suicide!"

"Let's hear it!"  
>Kaden held his detonator up. "They'll be busy trying to stand back up! we make a mad dash for those windows, blow them out!"<p>

"Are you crazy?!"

"I wouldn't put it past myself!"

Alister seemed to be considering the plan. "It's the best shot we have!" he finally shouted.

"It's the ONLY shot we have!" screamed Kaden. He flipped the cap on the button and counted down, flicking his wrist every time he spoke.

"Three...two...ONE!" Kaden slammed his thumb on the button. "RUN! RUN NOW!" As a pair, he and Alister ran into the bridge and fired their blasters as if there was a time limit. Kaden pulled ahead, his superior hoverbooting skills taking over. For every Cragmite that he couldn't shoot in time, he hit them with his Constructo Pistol. He lay waste to everything in front of him, his enemies dead behind him. Finally, through the flashes of purple and orange, he saw the Fastoon sun setting on the eve of war, partially blocked by the buildings rushing to meet the Cragmite mothership. Kaden aimed his pistol straight in the center of the life-giving star through the glass for a focal point, and fired three rounds. The entire wall of glass shattered, leaving Kaden and Alister with a way out.

"JUMP!" Kaden yelled, now sprinting full-on towards a skyscraper destined for obliteration. He used his hoverboots to provide him with a boost as he jumped for salvation. The Cragmite ship was close to taking the skyscraper to the ground, and Kaden almost exceeded vertical clearance of the ship's roof. His arms and legs flailed helplessly as he drew closer to the next pane of glass. When Kaden hit the building, he shattered the large window pane with his body as he tumbled along the carpeted floor. He felt shards of glass embedding themselves in his flesh. Finally, his momentum burned out, and he stopped rolling. He lay there for just a moment, groaning in pain. Now how was he going to get down? He looked to the ship, hoping that Alister had made it. With relief, he saw the white lombax running the last few meters of the ship.

"COME ON!" Kaden yelled out, though he intended it to release his stress more than he intended it to motivate his friend. He got up, ran to the edge of the building, and stretched his arm out. He could see the strain on Alister's face. The lombax jumped. He flailed his limbs the same way Kaden had. Alister was inches away from getting to Kaden's hopeful fingers. He reached, trying to rescue himself…and he fell. Alister was tumbling head over heels toward the hard ground below, destined to lose his life the day the war started.

"NO!" Kaden screamed. "NO!" Panting heavily, he sank to his knees, biting back tears of agony. He sat on his heels with the bridge on his nose in between his thumb and finger. His ears and tail drooped. "No…" The glass shards were no longer hindering him, and he could no longer acknowledge their existence, pain drowned out by sorrow.

Kaden was jerked to both the ground and his senses by a huge crash. The ship had already started to knock the top of the building off. Kaden sprang to his feet, looking for a way out. As he searched, he saw the ship coming closer and closer to impaling him.

"Oh boy," he said to himself. Giving it no thought and relying on pure instinct, he ran away from the Cragmite menace. Luckily for him, there was another tall building right next to the one he was currently vacating. Kaden fired his Constructo Pistol, not wanting to make the same mistake he did when he first jumped. The glass in front of him shattered beneath the power of his gun. No sooner had Kaden started to jump than he was thrown off his feet by another large rumble. Everything was moving rapidly, and Kaden didn't know which way was up. He looked out of the broken window. The top of his building was tilting, about to crash into the next. Kaden was at such an angle that he now had no way of jumping to the next building as he started to slide unexpectedly across a floor of windows. Instinctively, Kaden shot his swingshot above his head. As the gadget caught the piece of metal binding the window panes together, Kaden was swung like a pendulum while shattered glass showered him. Suddenly, he knew his way out. The swingshot drew him closer to the metal. At the last second, Kaden ignited his hoverboots and swung his body toward the momentum of the building as he detached the swingshot. He was thrown onto the outside of the building as he started to slide again. When he saw the next building, he was nervous about the fact that it had already started to come down as well, breaking in a similar way to the first. Kaden was running out of both sliding area and ideas. Just before he slid off his footing, he flattened his feet on a pane of glass and gave himself another hoverboot-applied height advantage.

"HOLY SHIT!" he yelled as he drew nearer to his next building, adrenaline flooding his body. On first contact, the window on which he landed shattered, and he fell through the building. When Kaden saw the other set of windows, he knew his force was too great. Kaden held his arms in front of him and worked for the best. He hurtled through the second set of glass, by some miracle avoiding more shards getting under his fur. Now he was in free fall, Alister's fate now awaiting its next victim. The Cragmite ship now burst through Fastoon's ruined skyscrapers, nearly harpooning Kaden as he fell. He looked for something to latch onto, but nothing seemed to be of use. Finally, as he looked down at the city below, with lombaxes military and civilian all gathering to watch, he found lampposts. He aimed his swingshot and fired. His aim was true, or so he thought, as his device sped him up a little. He was coming in too hot. He would either die from slamming into the pole, or he would miss it entirely and have his arm ripped off by the force exerted on it. Kaden utilized his hoverboots once again, pointing them towards his destination and firing them for all they were worth. He could feel it working. Sirens were now audible, but barely. Through the last five meters he continued to slow himself down, until he detached his swingshot and grabbed onto the lamppost by hand. He slid down, greeted by cheers, applause, and whistles of victory.

As Kaden touched down, he immediately felt exhausted. He groaned, shaking his head to keep his vision clear. The glass shards the had buried themselves in him started to burn, and he felt like he was on fire. He dropped to his knees with one hand on the ground and another clutching his bloody side. He felt something in his throat trying to force its way out. He coughed and choked, spattering the ground with his blood. He stayed there, panting, before his shaking arm gave out and he fell to the ground. The whispers of the crowd felt like demons hissing in his ear, and he suddenly felt a rush of fear. His vision blurred, his hearing diminished, and breathing became difficult. The last thing he saw was an anonymous white figure kneeling over him, and then everything went black.


	6. Ch 6 - Recover

**Chapter 6**

**Recover**

A crack of light pierced Kaden's dark, black vision. Blurred objects were moving around, seeming to taunt his eyes of their helplessness. A white figure, smaller red figures, and lights flashed across the sliver of color granted to him. Then they went away, leaving Kaden in his solitary abyss, void of light. The objects returned just as suddenly as they had disappeared. This time, however, they were clearer, but just barely. Kaden finally identified what was happening. He was waking up, returning from an accident that should surely have granted him a tombstone. As he had this thought, he felt his eyelids reconnect to his brain, enabling him to attempt to return his eyes to their normal state. With each closing and reopening of his eyelids, the once unidentifiable objects now became sharp and visible. He appeared to be in a hospital bed, but his body was too exhausted to feel anything around him. Alister's concerned face was bent over him, waiting for signs of life while shining a flashlight in Kaden's eyes.

"That's it," he said gently. "Follow the light…"

Kaden shook his head, and everything came back to him. He felt the pillow they had laid his head on, he felt the sheet they had draped over his body, and he felt the bandages covering his torso and forehead.

"Nice choice of words, Doc," he said groggily.

Alister clicked the flashlight off and set it on the table next to him. "I didn't have much of a choice. It was that or ice water. And since you're a lombax, I figured the water wouldn't be the best option."

"The government is in chaos and panic. We don't know why we didn't know." He lowered his voice. "We had agents in the Cragmite ranks, their Hologuises the only things standing between them and exposure. They should have had reports covering this. But they never did. They were found out. Someone inside the Praetorian Guard – here on Fastoon, not in any of the interplanetary colonies – alerted the Cragmites. The Cragmites, in turn, killed our agents. Everyone's a suspect, even us. You, me, hell, even Jasmine could be a Cragmite in disguise. The government can't trust anyone."

"Riddle me this, Alister," Kaden said. "How did you survive falling that height?"

Alister looked around, and lowered his voice even more. "Don't tell anybody this, but I picked it up from you. The hoverboots not only slowed me down, they allowed me to make an emergency landing in the same building I had just fallen short of. I was only three or four stories from the ground, and the rest was just smooth sailing with the hoverboots. Then I saw the top of that thing start to collapse. I knew you were in there, so I watched and waited for a sign that you were still alive. Sure enough, your hoverboots were flashing around, making a path for the next building. I had to meet you on the other side, let you know I was alive. Another blast of speed from my hoverboots got me to the end of the other building just in time to see you flailing wildly in the air, screaming your head off as you fell. That was a very smart play with the swingshot, I have to say. You were out before I got there to heal you. Since I've never performed first aid on an unconscious lombax, I contacted the nearest hospital." Alister spread his arms. "And now we're here."

"So, just to recap," Kaden ran through the day's events in his head. "We find the Cragmite armada on our doorstep, just so happening to slip past our orbital radar. We sabotage the biggest hive bomber in the advancing fleet and we tear down two large buildings with the push of a button. Then I wake up in a hospital no doubt working overtime with the friend I thought was dead trying to scare me to death by giving me a look." He gave a low, long whistle. "What's the Omniverse coming to?"

"It seems the only logical answer is total destruction." Alister picked up a newspaper from the same table on which he had lain the flashlight and hand it to Kaden. Kaden, whose arms were free of the hospital blanket, took the folded paper and looked at the picture on the front page. On a beautiful Fastoon evening, a menacing Cragmite ship loomed over the planet, deploying infantry carriers and fighters ready to massacre the lombax population below. Kaden looked at it. The nightmares it would give generations of lombax children to come were too terrible to think of. He looked up into Alister's serious face, who took it as his cue to continue talking.

"Great," Kaden said. He handed the paper back to Alister, who put it on the table. "So I'm down and out. Let me guess: Zorven and the whole Praetorian Guard want me back in the action as fast as possible."

"No, actually. Zorven wants you to take it easy. ECP 666 went into effect."

"ECP?" Kaden asked in a low voice, talking more to himself than to Alister.

"Emergency Cadet Protocol," Alister supplied. "ECP 666 states that in a war situation, cadets are assigned to military positions that best enable them to utilize themselves. I was assigned command of a squadron. They assigned you to that top-secret division you wanted to go into. You know, the one with the special secret project Zorven encouraged you to participate in."

"And I've got to move ASAP, I'm guessing?"

"As I said before: our superiors think it would be better for you to rest. Zorven said that it's better for the Guard if you sit out the first part of the game than be permanently incapacitated, if you know what I mean. After all, we did push them off of Fastoon. The Guard will want fighters in prime condition, even if they're stuck in a lab."

"Yeah. I'd much rather survive the war than be buried with the countless that are going to die fighting it."

"Same," Alister said, with the same aura of despair and sadness he always carried when someone in the conversation brought up soldiers that lost their lives in combat.

"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it, Alister." Kaden put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "He could still be out there."

Alister scoffed. "Yeah, right. Don't get my hopes up, Kaden." He stood up. "I have to report for a squad assignment. They asked me to tell you that your nanosuit patched most of you up. They say if all goes well with your progress report today, you'll be discharged by this afternoon."

"How long was I out?" Kaden asked.

Alister shrugged. "Less than twenty-four hours."

Kaden chuckled. "You're a bad liar, Alister. I can tell I have a diaper on. Try again."

"Fine. You've been unconscious for two days."

"That sounds about right. Now go and blow up some Cragmites. I wouldn't want to go down in history as the guy whose excessive interrogation wiped the lombaxes from the face of the Omniverse."

"Fair enough." With that, Alister turned and walked out of the room, closing the door. This gave Kaden time to think. _That doesn't sound like Zorven at all,_ he told himself, staring straight ahead of him._ He always wants me and Alister on the front lines, fighting for the cause. But then again, I did want to go into that project, and now I'm part of it. Now that sounds familiar. I'm Zorven's favorite puppet. How refreshing. I finally know my purpose in life._ His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. He turned his head to the right and saw Jasmine walking in. She quickly walked to Kaden's bedside and looked at him in an affectionate way.

"Hey," she whispered, cupping her hand on his jawbone and stroking her thumb across his cheek.

"Hi," Kaden smiled back.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm much better now that you're here."

She smiled and gave a shaky chuckle. "When I heard what had happened, I thought-" She lowered her head and gave a watery sigh.

"Hey. Hey," Kaden said. She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm here now. Everything's going to be fine."

Her voice broke. "I know, but when I think of what could have happened…"

"Shh, shh shh shh shh." Kaden put his own hand on her cheek. "That's what could have happened. This is what did happen."

"I just thought that you had...died right before we got married." Jasmine buried her face into his shoulder began to cry.

"Hey," Kaden said, lifting her head up in such a way they looked each other in the eye. "I couldn't live with myself if that happened. Mostly because I would already be dead, but still, do you think I could let such a beautiful girl down?"

Jasmine gave a watery laugh and pecked him on the cheek. "I love you," she said softly.

"I love you, too," he told her. "Did the powers call you away, like they did Alister?"

"No, they let me stay with you," she told him with a bit of relief in her voice. "Something about spouse privileges or some such thing. I had a choice: fight or stay. I stayed, obviously," she added.

"No. Go out and fight. They need every available hand, Jasmine," Kaden protested.

"Well, it's a good thing my hand's already taken," Jasmine said. With that, she kissed him on the forehead, then stood up by his bedside, still looking at him. "I love you, Kaden, but I should probably go."

"I love you, too," Kaden said for the umpteenth time. He walked Jasmine walk out of the room, hoping that he would see her again soon. They were to be married next week, and he knew that he was extremely emotional about the whole thing. It seemed a foolish dream: marriage in times of war, love in times of death, new lives formed as others were broken by weapons of hate and greed. But, in a sense, that was life: a never-ending battlefield in which only the strongest survived and the weak were devoured by wolves hungry for the flesh and blood of timid sheep, who would never be able to stand for long against the torrent of despair and avarice that was daily regimen.

Kaden's deep thoughts were woken by the door handle turning yet again. He looked towards his visitor and was both somewhat relieved and apprehensive to see a nurse with a clipboard and pen in his hand. The lombax returned Kaden's gaze and nodded with a casual, "Hello," and a smile.

"Hey," Kaden responded, returning the grin. "Are you the one who's breaking me out of jail?"

"Unfortunately, I left the cake at home," the nurse replied. Kaden chuckled, and as he observed the young man, he was reminded quite a lot of himself: a can-do, yet semi-rebellious attitude; bright green eyes; similar method of walking – tall and proud – it seemed Kaden was looking into a moving, talking mirror that could respond to his words with a statement that was easily distinguishable and relative to the conversation.

"So, you're the one who threw himself out of two perfectly good buildings to save the lombaxes?" the nurse asked, checking something on his clipboard.

"Yeah, that's me," Kaden said with a smile. "I know, it's a really stupid thing to do."

"I don't think so, actually," the nurse said in a serious tone. "If you hadn't almost killed yourself, the Cragmites might have kicked our butts seven ways from Sunday. When I saw it on the news, my first thought was, 'I'd really love to meet that guy.' My second thought was, 'Those patients aren't going to heal themselves.' Then I get word that your best friend dropped you off at the ground floor and they called me to the situation. It's like the universe has a sick sense of humor." The nurse spread his arms. "And now we're here."

"Wait," Kaden held up his hands as if he was a superhero trying to stop a speeding spaceship. "I was on the news?"

"Yeah," the nurse replied in an excited voice. "Pretty cool, right?" He grabbed a holovision remote from the desk beside him and pointed it at the holovision set on the side of the room exactly opposite Kaden. Suddenly, the same events that had actually occurred were public for the whole Omniverse to see. He watched as the cameraman pointed the camera at the slowly declining Cragmite ship. Suddenly, in a jerking movement, he centered on two little blue flashes of light right underneath a lombax figure. The lombax crashed into the building in front of him, and the cameraman's next shot featured Kaden gripping the streetlamp with his swingshot and making a semi-safe landing on the ground before passing out with Alister kneeling over him. Immediately, Alister, grabbed Kaden by the midsection and hoisted him over his shoulder, carrying him out of the scene as the camera focused on him while he walked, hoping to save Kaden's life. The holovision snapped back to the reporter, who began talking about the incident.

_"The hero's name we cannot divulge, nor that of his personal guardian angel. However, we can safely say that these two lombaxes saved Fastoon from total destruction. Whoever they are, we owe them a very large debt, a debt that we can only hope to repay."_

The nurse turned off the holovision. "What do you think?"

Kaden thought about his answer. "I think she made a rookie mistake. First, she says they can't tell us my name or my friend's, but then she says, 'Whoever they are.' That means they never actually got our identities and she just made it public for everybody in the Omniverse to hear," he finally replied.

The nurse stared at Kaden in awe. "Damn, you're good."

"Being a Guardsman helps."

"Why did you tell me you were a Guardsman?" the nurse asked, apparently testing Kaden. "You'd want to keep that information private, right?"

"Right, but occupations are needed to be checked into a hospital, am I right? So you already knew I was a Guardsman."

The nurse chuckled and shook his head. "That's amazing."

"You think that's amazing? I can tell you you're left-handed and that you drive a convertible speeder. I can tell you that we're on the second floor because I heard voices underneath me. And I can tell you that your pants are just slack enough that they would permit you to conceal a Constructo Pistol but not raise suspicion."

"Stop right there, or you'll literally blow my mind," the nurse joked.

"Yeah, I just wanted to show off," Kaden said. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well, we were going to test if you were back to prime condition, because let's face it – the Guard needs top-notch players, not benchwarmers. I'd say you've already passed the mental test." The nurse wrote something down on his clipboard. "So now all that's left is the physical test." He motioned for Kaden to stand. "On your feet."

Gingerly, Kaden swung his legs off the bed and placed his feet ever so gently on the ground. Slowly, he rose to his feet, and when he felt that no harm could befall him, he stood erect, filled with a feeling of happiness.

"Try walking now. Go ahead and walk over to me," the nurse instructed. Kaden obliged, and he put one foot in front of the other as if nothing had happened to inflict damage on his body. His happiness now became more abundant, his expectations for being discharged higher than they had been before.

"Move your arms. Here," the nurse said, extending his clipboard towards Kaden. "Take the clipboard and write something." Kaden, though feeling a bit ridiculous, did as he was told: with one hand, he grasped the clipboard and pulled it back to his torso. Taking the pen in his other hand, he held the board steady as he wrote, _"I passed the test, as you can see, but it just seems too far-fetched to me."_ Unsure of the reaction he would receive, he returned the clipboard to the nurse. As the nurse read, he laughed out loud.

"That's a new one, I have to say," the nurse said. Suddenly, his face lit up in discovery. "Now go and fight another day," he told Kaden, putting his hand on his patient's shoulder.

"Okay," Kaden said. "That's enough last-minute rhyme for me today." He extended his hand to his supervisor. "Thank you," he told the nurse as his hand was shaken with reverence.

"No, thank_ you_ for your service," the medical lombax replied. "I don't have the stones for surgery operations, much less freefalling out of a large glass object."

"Don't worry about it," Kaden replied. "You do an excellent job with your current occupation." Then a thought occurred to him. "Never caught your name, by the way."

"Oh," the nurse chuckled as if he had missed something obvious. "It's Rodney."

"Nice to meet you, Rodney," Kaden said. "Now go save lives."

"Yes, sir," Rodney replied. "You can come with me, if you want. You're cleared. I figure you want to see some friendly faces as quickly as possible."

"Thanks," Kaden said. Rodney smiled and walked to the door, Kaden following close behind. They walked through the door in a single file line, their bodies much too large to both fit through the frame at the same time, and continued to the ground floor, walking by many more doors like the one they had just passed through. Kaden took notice of the fact that most of them were closed.

"Damn. How many people were injured in the explosion?" he asked his new friend, Rodney.

"More than there should have been," Rodney said grimly. "We're the closest hospital from the accident, and we're working triple overtime. Hell, we don't even have vacant beds. Most people are being treated for their wounds while they're lying on the ground with nothing but a ragged old blanket separating them from the pavement."

"Funny. You were keeping your cool just fine when you were testing me," Kaden pressed subtly. The Guard had taught him to find flaws in people's statements while under suspicious situations. He couldn't be sure he wasn't walking next to a Cragmite with a hologuise in an abandoned building ten years after he lost consciousness.

"To be fair, we didn't know if you were going to be all right. If we had had you stay here, I'd have done everything I could to keep that from you. I don't need another guilty conscience on my hands, because the one that's breathing up my ass right now is giving me an all-expenses-paid guilt trip." Rodney stopped in front of an elevator and pressed the arrow pointing down.

_That checks out,_ Kaden thought to himself, and he let his guard down a little. Making an attempt to keep the mood a little less depressing, he kept talking. "Why are they filling up this hospital? Shouldn't the patients with minor injuries get treated at different locations?"

"There _are_ no minor injuries from this occurrence, Kaden," Rodney said as the double doors of the elevator pressurized and granted them access to the lift. Kaden stepped in with Rodney. "Nobody got lucky. There weren't any dings and scratches. Bobby Joe didn't fall off his bike, and Mary Sue didn't skin her knee playing hopscotch. It's bad, Kaden." He pressed a button labeled "1" on the floor selection panel. "The least severe case we've had yet is a dislocation of the kneecap."

"Ouch," Kaden winced as the lift descended. "I pity the guy who got a face full of one of those huge shards of glass."

"It's funny," Rodney said with bitter sarcasm. "You take a pledge to 'do no harm,' but it seems you're not included in the list of those to whom you're not supposed to do harm."

"Keep doing what you're doing. The planet needs you guys now more than ever." The lift had stopped by now, and the doors opened automatically. Kaden and Rodney were nearly flattened by three doctors pushing a table with an unconscious patient on it as they rushed to fill the lift, heroically attempting to save a life. Kaden looked at Rodney, panting slightly. "I rest my case."

"No kidding," Rodney replied. "I'll bet you wish you had a teleport right now. When we walk out, it's not going to be pretty."

"Even if I'm just a scientist, Rodney, I'm still a soldier," Kaden said in a serious tone as he looked Rodney in the eyes. "I was trained for this from day one."

"I know what training's like, Kaden. I went through it," Rodney responded with the same tone to his voice. "Not military training, surgical training. But still, when the dice are rolled and someone's life is on the line, and that someone is conscious…" Rodney's posture suddenly made him seem like a frightened child as he pointed his head at the ground and closed his eyes. "…Well, a cadaver never prepares you for the blood or the screams, does it?" He finished in a small voice.

"Hey, hey," Kaden said sharply, getting in front of Rodney and grabbing him by the shoulders. "Hey, Rodney, look at me." Rodney obeyed and looked at Kaden. "We can think about that later. But you need to focus. People need your help."

"Do have any idea what it's like to be a doctor, Kaden?" Rodney asked.

"I can't believe it's any less difficult than the Guard," Kaden answered.

"I know what they put your bodies through over there at the Academy, but nothing ever made me ready enough for an operation. Knowing that one mistake, one slip of the surgical tool could end an innocent person's life, I-"

"-it was too much for you and you decided to be the checkup guy," Kaden supplied the rest of Rodney's sentence. "It's fine, I get that. Some of us need to dial it down a notch or two. Work in your comfort zone." He gave Rodney a few firm, encouraging pats on the back. "Now go. Innocent people need you."

"Thanks, Kaden," Rodney said. He appeared to have gained a little bit of extra strength: he picked his head up and stood tall, looking comfortable. "Let's go." He led the way out with Kaden following suit. As they walked through reception, Kaden saw what Rodney was talking about. It looked as if everyone who had been present at the scene of the crash ad suffered terrible injury. Lombaxes were packed into the room, most lying down, some propped up against the wall. The coughing never stopped, and sounds of pain and sorrow tore at Kaden's heart. He looked around, attempting to appear calm on the outside as his emotions fought a war on the inside. Fear planted the idea that he could have been one of these unfortunate people. Rage flowed through his body, attempting to make Kaden get revenge on the Cragmites for all of these wounded civilians. Guilt overwhelmed him, making him believe that this was his fault. If he hadn't torn down those buildings, if he had been faster at blowing the ship, nobody would have been harmed. He kept looking at the damage, still attempting to control his chaotic emotions while seeming unaffected to those around him. Finally, after a long, very unpleasant time, Kaden and Rodney had approached the doors to the entrance of the hospital. The latter turned to Kaden.

"This is where you get off," he said. "I have a lot to do."

"Yeah, I noticed," Kaden replied. "Just make sure everyone lives through it. I don't need my conscience talking to me about killing civilians. I have to keep a clear head. I've got a war to fight."

"So go out and fight the war," came the encouraging answer. "I'm sure your fiancé's working in the field right now."

"How did you know I have a fiancé?"

"Because a woman came in ten minutes after you did, and she was extremely concerned for your safety. Doesn't sound like much of an SO, they're not that attached to their men."

"Where did you learn SO?"

"I tried out for the Guard myself," Rodney said. "I had the brain power, but look at me." He referenced his athletic-looking upper torso. "This isn't fit for combat."

"You told me you didn't train for the military."

"I didn't," Rodney replied. "Well, not a full year, anyway. Six months. Then I decided I wouldn't make the cut.

"I didn't know the Guard gave Shinies an SO," Kaden said, placing his hand on the door.

"Supervising officers are only given to the 'weak links,' deemed fit by the Guard." Rodney put air quotes around "weak links."

"You're not a weak link. You're a hard worker, Rodney."

"Please. Call me Rod."

Kaden thought about it for a moment. "Rodney's a little bit harder to take the wrong way," he pointed out.

Rodney nodded his head. "Eh, true. Call me whichever."

"Sounds like a plan," Kaden said, pushing the door open and walking out. He began to walk down the steps of the building. He turned around and took a last look. Rodney was standing there, watching him go. Kaden raised his hand in a farewell gesture, and Rodney did the same. Then Kaden saluted him: he raised his hand in a normal salute, then clenched his fist in a symbol of victory. Rodney copied the motion. Kaden turned around and resumed walking down to the street where Jasmine was waiting for him in his speeder. Once he found himself at the passenger's side door, he climbed in, giving Jasmine a peck on the cheek.

"So, even though there was a chance I wouldn't be walking out of here today, you still waited," Kaden observed as Jasmine started the vehicle.

"If you hadn't passed those tests, I'd have been surprised, Kaden, and not a good kind of surprised," she added, pulling out into the street. "You're smart. You would have figured out a way to do it."

"It's nice to know someone cares," Kaden said, beginning to feel a little tired. He lay back in his seat, folded his arms, and closed his eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.


	7. Ch 7 - Self-Designated

**Chapter 7**

**Self-Designated**

"Kaden."

"Mmnh?"

"You're purring."

Jasmine's loving whispers stirred Kaden from his sleep. Now awake, barely, he looked at his love. His eyes met hers, and he kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him, and his drowsy heart melted. He coiled his tail around her and held her in his arms.

"Morning," he said.

"Morning," Jasmine replied. Kaden kissed her again, then let go of her. He threw the covers off of his body and, still sitting on the bed, let his feet touch the floor, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He felt Jasmine's hand on his shoulder as her other arm tightened around his body.

"Leaving so soon?" she asked him in a sleepy voice.

"Did I bore you or something last night?" he mumbled.

"Define 'bore,'" she replied coyly.

"Which definition do you want?"

"The one that the grown-ups use."

Kaden chuckled sleepily through his nose. "A glass of water. I'm going for a glass of water."

"And I'm supposed to trust you with that after your little episode last night?" Jasmine asked him, now suddenly very much awake.

"If you want to."

Kaden heard a quiet sigh. "Well, hurry back," came Jasmine's voice , rolling over again. "I'm going to try and sleep some more." Slowly, Kaden rose to his feet and walked towards the door. As he began to close it, he thought to himself, _A glass of water…_

* * *

><p><em>POW!<em>

Kaden was jerked backwards as the butt of his weapon flew into his shoulder. He closed his eyes instinctively, reacting to the impact. The sheer power of the recoil caused him to throw a foot out behind him so he would not end up falling over. Panting quite heavily, he kneeled over, looking at the ground and holding his Flux Rifle in a vertical position at his side, letting the butt of the weapon rest on the floor. _Damn,_ he thought. _I know the Guard says, "Let it surprise you," but this is ridiculous._ He stood back up and looked at the red and white target he had been shooting at. There were no signs of a projectile anywhere. _Missed. Well, it was my first shot of the day. There's room for improvement._ He positioned himself back in his booth and stood at attention. He let his finger gently squeeze the trigger as he aimed down the range at his target. _POW!_ The gun threw itself into his shoulder once again, and while his arm throbbed he did not fall. He looked at the target. It was too far away to tell what happened. He pressed the button on his munitions table and the target came forward. As it approached, Kaden saw not one, but two holes in the target. One round had gone through the bottom right part of the target, but the second had hit the third ring of the red and white circle. _Not bad for the early morning,_ Kaden patted himself on the back.

"A glass of water, huh?"

Kaden jumped in surprise. He turned around to face Jasmine, who was now dressed and fully awake. She stood at the top of the stairs that connected Kaden's homemade underground shooting range to the outside world. The door was closed behind her.

"Let me guess. You somehow managed to close the door right as I unloaded a round," he said.

"Always trying to find the logical explanation," came his love's reply as she began to descend the steps. "What happened to a glass of water?"

Kaden held up a glass with droplets of water on it. "I didn't lie, Jasmine."

"Yeah, well, you never mentioned you were gonna be plugging targets after you made your little trip." Her eyes were now level with Kaden's as she took her foot off the last step.

"I'm the loophole exploiter, remember?"

"How can I forget? All those times you gambled against lateral thinking puzzles? It's probably the only reason you could afford to make this gun range." She walked over to the gun rack and selected a Constructo Shotgun.

"No, I'm sure the reason is because my opponent was hammered and I wasn't." Kaden took aim with his Flux Rifle again. "Then again, he _was_ Agorian, so that might have had something to do with it…"

"Racist," Jasmine teased, firing her shotgun downrange as she held it from the hip.

"Look, you can't argue with brains and money. The way I see it, we're both happy." _POW!_

"Last night made sure of that."

"So you were joking earlier. About me boring you."

"No, you bored me...in one sense or another."

Kaden understood what she meant. "That was graphic."

"You thought it, not me."

"Yeah, well, I'm changing the topic." _PKOW!_ One of the rounds Kaden fired had ricocheted off the metal bar that held his target in place. "It's not doing much good for my aim."

"Says the guy who can shoot with 94% accuracy from 750 meters. With an assault rifle."

"It was a _sniper_ rifle. The Guard just wanted to spruce up my file."

"Why so modest?"

"Subject. Change. Now."

"What are you going to do about your off-limits policy?"

"Nope. Change the subject." Kaden was getting a bit annoyed. _PKOW!_

"I think you're missing the target on purpose."

"Different convo material starting right now."

"Are you going to disobey Zorven and fight?"

_POW!_ Kaden had finally hit the target. He sighed. He knew there was no escaping it.

"Look, just go shopping or something for the day. When you get back, I'll be taking care of it," he said, lowering the Flux Rifle.

"You didn't answer my question," came the reply as the shotgun fired again.

"Yeah, I did. I just answered it really evasively." Kaden put the rifle in line with its brothers on the gun rack.

"I'm still waiting. It's a simple yes or no question. We can't expect this relationship to work if you can't even be straight with me."

"I _am_ being straight with you, Jas," he said as he walked towards her. "I said I'd be taking care of it. And I will be." He saw her put the shotgun down and heard a sigh. Suddenly, she whipped around, apparently now very interested in the conversation.

"Just answer the goddamn question." Kaden heard the exhaustion in her tone, the look in her eye that said she was fed up with playing the word game. A pang of guilt hit Kaden in the chest and instantly reverberated off the rest of his body. He took advantage of the fact that they were within arms' reach. He took one hand and put it around her waist and simultaneously put his other on the back of her head. He brought her closer to himself and lowered her head on his shoulder as he did the same with his own head. He pressed his lips to her neck and kept them there. He didn't know how long they were standing there, embraced, but he knew that it felt good. He began to purr again, this time consciously willing himself to do so. Finally, he brought his head back up as Jasmine mimicked him.

"I'm going," he said, staring into her eyes. He had no idea how hard it would be to say what he had to say. He had practiced it in his head after Jasmine had fallen asleep, he had braced himself for her resistance, he almost knew everything she was going to say. But here, in the moment, looking at his girl, with her sad blue eyes begging him, pleading with him to change his mind...It was an entirely different story. He tried to ease her mind. "I wish I could stay here, I wish I could just be done with the war so I could spend more time with you. But they need me, even if they don't know it."

Jasmine gave a tear-filled chuckle. "You're terrible at this stuff, you know," she told him, looking at the ground as she said it.

Kaden smiled bitterly. "I know." He brought her closer and pressed his lips to hers. Soon, he felt her give in, and they stood there kissing. Kaden lost track of the time. He lost track of everything as he felt his love's heart beat against his own chest. After an eternity of happiness, he broke away, now cradling Jasmine's cheek in his hand as he stroked it with his thumb.

"I'll be back. You know that, right?"

"Of course."

Kaden pecked her on the cheek. "I love you."

"I love you, too," came Jasmine's reply. "Bring me back a souvenir."

"If I get one, you'll be the first to know." With that, Kaden turned and ascended the steps to his front door. Each step sent an echoing pang through his body. Yet he knew not of what the pang was. It wasn't guilt; he had felt that minutes ago. Fear? Love? Jealousy? Courage? A potpourri of unnamed emotions seemed to present themselves in his mind as possible solutions, but none of them were an exact match. A few were close, but just not enough.

Suddenly, a light hit Kaden's eyes. He was standing in front of his house now. He looked back down, but the camouflage door had already sealed. He could no longer see down into his gun range. Now he was just standing there, looking like he was lost and couldn't find his way back to where he needed to be. As he entered his house, he thought about that. _How lost am I, really? I'm just one lombax on a planet in a universe of trillions of other planets and stars and species. And I call this "home." But what's home?_ Kaden twisted the knob on a door and opened it. _I either need a beer or a friend to talk to. This is getting depressing._ He walked into his large garage and looked at his ship. It was a lovely thing, tailored to Kaden's liking. It was hot-rod red with a few decorative stickers on it. A rotating minigun hung underneath the cockpit, and two missiles protruded from each wing. He had worked on it for a long time, and had installed many different secret functions for it. _As is my way…_

The cockpit windshield opened and the ship's AI greeted him. _"Yo, headbanger man!"_ a slurred male voice came from the ship._ "Ready to thrash and trash this hellhole?"_

"Aphelion, revert to standard," Kaden said with a sigh. "And next time, tell Edan to leave your voice as it is."

_"Thank Orvus, dude. I hate seeing sounds and smelling colors."_ A few whirring noises emanated from the ship. _"That's much better,"_ said the now feminine voice. _"What are we doing this morning?"_

"Set a course for Florana," Kaden said, putting his foot on the wing and hauling himself into the pilot's seat. "We're going to get a bit of payback."

_"I advise against this, Kaden. You are injured and are in need of reparations. I could be of assistance in that particular category."_

"Remember the last time you tried to patch me up?"

_"If memory serves, Alister had managed to accidentally sabotage my systems after he took me for an orbital race. I suggest you teach your friends to take better care of their ships."_

"It doesn't change the fact that you almost neutered me."

_"I was still in the stage of an AI's life that you would know as 'puberty.' Forgive me if I seemed...overly curious. I was merely attempting to gather data on anatomy."_

Kaden closed his eyes and shook his head. "No, no. That's too far."

_"I apologize, Kaden."_

"No, it's fine. Just set the coordinates."

_"Of course."_

The ship powered up and prepared to take off. Suddenly, a song began to play.

_"Transmission from Alister Azimuth. Shall I connect you?"_

"Yeah, sure. Let's just argue about what I should do with my life. Stay here and slowly die or take action and help out."

_"I sensed extreme sarcasm in your sentence. Should I deny his call?"_

"Nah, just let him talk. I'm serious this time."

_"Okay. Connecting to Alister Azimuth."_ A few seconds later, Alister appeared as a miniature version of himself. It seemed as if he was standing on an invisible floor.

_"Why am I not surprised?" _he said, arms folded.

"Because you've known me for at least ten years?"

_"And you disobeyed everybody for that period of time."_

"Hey, look. You were angry at Edan taking cheap shots at the military guys dying on the front lines. I'm just trying to do my part."

_"Your 'part' right now is recovering, Kaden. Zorven and Grathmac, hell, even Edan says you should just take it easy."_

"You do realize you're talking about a high-school stoner dropout? I'm sure he's not too motivated to get up and do stuff anyway." The ship was now taking to the atmosphere, and Kaden took a look around his home planet. He knew it was the last time he'd see it for a long time. The sunrise was beautiful, throwing its paint buckets full of purple and red all over the canvas of the clouds.

A sigh came from Alister's hologram. _"Fine. I'm not gonna talk sense into you. Just play it smart."_

"Thanks. Keep it between us?"

_"Yeah, whatever. I'm not sure what we're keeping between us. Actually, forget I said that. I'm not even sure I want to know what you're getting up to."_

"You don't want to. See you around." He pressed the "end transmission" button, and Alister disappeared.

_"We have now entered orbit. Shall I set the mood?" _Aphelion asked.

"Sure." Kaden took a second to muse. "Play something upbeat, go-get-'em. You know what I'm saying?"

_"Of course, Kaden."_

"Oh, and Aphelion, _please_ keep off of Edan's channels."

_"I wouldn't dream of it."_ Music began to play. It was heavy, but it felt right. Kaden listened to it, and he suddenly found he could feel more adrenalin coursing through his veins.

_Rise!_

_Refuse to give in_

_Rise!_

_Ashes to dust_

_Rise!_

_Make them remember your name_

_Rise!_

_Cause in yourself you can trust_

"Well, this is different," Kaden said out loud. "Aphelion, are you sure you didn't start playing Edan's music?"

"_We are currently tuned to Pirate Radio. Shall I dial to another station?"_

"No, that's fine. I just...didn't think they played motivational metal. Hell, a few seconds ago, I didn't even _know_ there was such as a thing as motivational metal."

"_Thanks to Edan's preferred composers, I am now more educated in heavy metal, its subgenres, and terminology. Certain subgenres include the following: groove metal, which is currently playing; death metal; Christian metal, also known as 'white metal;' thrash metal; grindcore; pornogrind..."_

"Whoa, whoa whoa whoa!" Kaden repeated the word rather rapidly. "Let's not think about that anymore."

"_I am also able to supply certain subgenres of hip hop, rock, pop, and dubstep."_

"There are subgenres for dubstep?"

"_Yes, indeed. There are a few. One such genre is known as 'an abomination.'"_

Kaden chuckled. "And an editorial from the artificial intelligence! I don't know any AI's with sarcasm."

"_You may not know any, but you programmed one: yours truly."_

"True."

The conversation ended awkwardly as the DJ came on, hiccupping as he talked.

"_Ahoy there! -hic- This is Rusty Pete, -hic- and you're listening to Pirate -hic- Radio!"_

"_He's _wasted," Kaden said. The next song seemed to resonate with Kaden a little less than the previous had. "Alright, I've heard enough." He pressed a button, and the music subsided. Now only the views of space would amuse him. He sighed and laid back in the pilot's seat. He tried to rest his eyes, but the anticipation of battle kept him from doing so. "Aphelion, do we still have weapons in that secret compartment, or did someone take them out?"

"_I have not been alerted to any theft or confiscation of any items in the ship. I could, however, be malfunctioning."_

"Well, let's find out, then." Kaden reached down and felt around for the button he made to grant access to his private stash of guns, wrenches, and assorted inventory. He felt it in between two of his fingers. The floor slid back to reveal a closet-like room full of weapons. "Awesome," he said. "Aphelion, let's go hyperspeed."

"_Affirmative. Inducing cryosleep."_ A purple gas hissed from the vents.

"No, no, I don't need-" And Kaden was out like a light.

* * *

><p><strong>(C) "Back for More" - Five Finger Death Punch<strong>


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